Caught in A Riff
by Alistair Ulven
Summary: In which Sakura forms a band with her friends and soon after a new transfer group invades the school, actually one of Sakura's favorite bands, Akatsuki. To her, the smoking hot vocalist Deidara is an arrogant, egoistic ass at first but will her feeling's change as she gets to know him? In the throes of music, love , jealousy and typical teenage behavior, will our heroine survive?
1. Chapter One

Summary: In which Sakura forms a band with her friends and soon after a new transfer group invades the school, having a band of their own and challenges Sakura's band. In the midst of this musical chaos, will Sakura find acceptance and maybe even love?

Hello everyone and welcome to the first chapter of Battle of the Bands! I hope you enjoy it and feel free to PM with suggestions. I know that I submitted the first chapter before but upon re-reading, I realized that the writing was sloppy and needed work. So, here is the revised version of chapter one and I've also made a few changes to the summary! I hope my work is better. Please review with your thoughts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishi-sensei does. Onwards to the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 01**

If one happened to be passing by the Haruno Sakura's locker that morning at school (and many people did ), they would wonder if World War III was going was going on or whether a three year old was throwing a grotesquely huge temper tantrum. Because that was just what Sakura was doing at that fine (not) morning at Konohagakure High. Mind you, not instigating the Third World War (people were just being their usual melodramatic selves when thinking that) but throwing a temper tantrum equivalent to that of a three year old.

Why? Because despite of her putting up thousands of posters all over the school, no one had taken up the position on becoming the vocalist of her band. Not one! Did no one have an inkling of appreciation for music? Granted, many may think that this was a ridiculous thing to be upset at but to Sakura, her band was the most important thing in her life, next to her parents and friends and her lifelong ambition of building a shelter for stray dogs.

Muttering under her breath all the way, she made for her first morning class, Chemistry taught by Asuma, to which she was ten minutes late to by the way, due to the little episode at her locker.

Noticing the glum and not to mention angry aura surrounding her, no one dared to speak a word to Sakura, not even the teacher –who by the way, was a muscular man that was more than twice her size and smoke cigarettes- regardless of the fact that she was late. She took a seat next to her Ino, ignoring her friend's inquiries about why she was late. Asuma sighed wearily. Kids these days were so rude.

"Now that you're all here, we will be discussing oxidation and reduction reactions today. Turn to page-", Asuma was cut off by the door opening. "Not again", he thought. But there could be no way someone else was coming to his class. His students were all here.

The door opened to reveal a smiling old man and a handsome though sullen looking teenage boy with dark hair and pale skin. Sakura rolled her eyes on seeing the reactions of the female population of the class on seeing him. Sure he was cute but he looked like he had a major case of stick-up-his-ass going on.

"Sarutobi sama!" Asuma exclaimed in surprise. Even the students looked perplexed. What was the principal doing here and why did he have a teenage boy at his side?

"Hello Asuma", Sarutobi greeted amiably, his old face wrinkling in a smile. "Sorry to have intruded but we have a new student today", he explained while Asuma just stared, nothing short of horrified. Another student? What were they trying to do to the teachers, kill them?

"Everyone, this is Uchiha Sasuke kun", Sarutobi introduced the boy while he still kept on sulking. "He just transferred here so I expect you to give him a warm welcome".

Sakura scoffed, loud enough to hear. Warm welcome? This guy was frigid. His looks actually screamed pompous jerk off and he had that whole aristocratic thing going on with what the regal features, the dark hair and pale skin and sullen mouth. She wondered how long it took to style his hair in that ridiculous way. He looked every bit like a fake, but judging from the love struck stares her female classmates directed to him, they thought otherwise.

"U-Um, sit over there with Uzumaki", Asuma said, still a bit overwhelmed from all this. A mere nod was all the Uchiha did to indicate that he had heard and walked over to the seat next to Uzumaki Naruto, which incidentally, was the one next to Sakura's. Just her luck that the Emo Prince, as she had dubbed him, had to sit next to her. Ah, but on the bright side, it was only during Chemistry, Sakura thought indifferently.

"Hey, Sasuke, you transferred?" came the loud voice of one of Sakura's best friends and fellow band mate Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke ignored him and Naruto muttered "jerk" which Sakura seconded internally.

"Eh, Naruto you know him?" Sakura asked in interest as the Emo Prince sat down next to her, interlaced his hands in front of his face and continued to brood. It seemed like that was his hobby. By now, the principal had left and Asuma had started the lesson, but the three teens ignored him.

"Yeah Sakura chan", came Naruto's reply. "Hey teme, why'd you transfer? Didn't you go to one of those fancy private schools?"Naruto spoke to Sasuke again but he seemed intent on ignoring him so Naruto (grudgingly) started to focus on Asuma's lesson, Sakura doing the same and class went on.

Sakura, Naruto and some of her friends sat down in the cafeteria, eating and sipping their drinks. With some effort on Naruto's part, they had somehow managed to drag Sasuke into their table too and currently, the said teen was quietly sipping a coke, the earphones of his iPod plugged into his ears. Absently, Sakura wondered what kind of music he listened to.

Thinking of music, Sakura suddenly remembered with a fresh wave of irritation, that the vocalist position of her band was still vacant. Turning to Naruto and Neji, the bassist, she related their situation.

"Why don't I be the vocalist?" Naruto asked and Sakura and Neji cringed. Naruto's singing voice was like nails on a chalkboard. "Uh, um, it's because then we'd be short of a drummer and-", Sakura's failed attempt at explaining to Naruto why he couldn't be the vocalist was cut short by a melodious, deep voice.

"You are in a band?" Sakura's head whipped around and her emerald eyes widened on seeing that it was the Emo Prince Uchiha Sasuke that had spoken. This was the first time he had actually spoken more than two syllables and boy was his voice heavenly. Sakura's surprised look was then replaced with a smirk on realizing that even if he had been listening to music, Sasuke had had the volume turned down so he could hear the conversation around him. Sneaky bastard that.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Sakura asked, curious to know why he was so interested all of a sudden. Neji shot Sasuke a questioning glance and Naruto suddenly brightened up.

Before Sasuke could respond, the blonde cut in. "I forgot to tell you Sakura chan, Neji. Sasuke here used to be in a band too", he said.

"You did?" Sakura asked, now completely interested in the dark haired teen.

"Yeah. Lithium", Sasuke answered simply. Sakura's eyes widened even more if that was possible. Lithium used to be one of the best bands in their city before they broke up over a reason that was never made public. All the members were students of Otogakure High, Konohagakure's eternal rivals. To think that Uchiha Sasuke used to be a member of Lithium, much less a student of Otogakure. Sakura wondered why he had transferred but noticing the slightly occupied look on Sasuke's face and didn't feel that it was wise to ask. Instead, she steered the conversation in a different direction.

"Why, are you interested in joining ours?" she asked, a teasing smirk on her face.

"Depends on how good you are", Sasuke responded with an equally teasing look on his face. Sakura smiled inwardly. Who knew that the Emo Prince was capable of teasing?

"What makes you think you're good enough?" she asked with a mock scoff.

Sasuke's smirk broadened. He was going to come up with a snarky response but Naruto insisted on ruining the moment, causing Sasuke, Sakura and even Neji to face palm.

"You guys, we haven't even figured out what to name the band yet!"

* * *

"Today is clearly not my day", was Sakura's first thought when she woke up that morning with a horrible case of bad hair day.

Her assumption proved to be correct after morning classes at school.

First she behaved like a complete klutz and embarrassed herself by spilling her shake all over herself live a five year old-curse her for wearing black-. Then she was yelled at by the Math teacher Kurenai in front of the entire class for talking with Ino during her explanation and now, she was expected to run a hundred laps around the gym with the other kids. Not that she had anything against running, heck she liked to run, but not when she had a splitting headache from Kurenai barking at her for fifteen whole minutes. Yes, Haruno Sakura was not in a good mood.

Currently running in last place, Sakura cursed her luck mentally. Why the heck did life suddenly spew down this crap at her? Not to mention her head was killing her, making it hard to run and even harder to keep up with the other kids. Why did she even come to school today?

In her little moment of wallowing in self pity, she didn't notice that she had actually caught up with some of the other kids –splitting headache or not, she was a fast runner- and crashed face first into someone, the impact sending her flying back, landing on the floor face down.

She groaned, coming to the conclusion that someone up there really despised her and glared on hearing a few sniggers from the rest of the kids. Cruel children. Things were really not going in her favor today. She could feel her headache grow a thousand times worse. Stupid Kurenai and her stupid loud mouth. Sighing, she laid her cheek on the floor, loving the cool of the wood against her cheek.

Ah, sweet ground! How she missed it. Kissing the ground seemed like a better option now than getting up and facing the sneering faces of the kids. How she wished Naruto or maybe even Sasuke were here, but no, they had computer class.

"Well, I can't stay on the ground like this forever", the rational side of her brain said. But Sakura was not in a rational mood right now. In fact, the only thing she wanted to do was rest her poor head on the glorious gym floor and fall into a blissful sleep, but of course, the evil thing that was fate would definitely not allow that, judging from the fact that she was being shook, albeit gently, but still.

"Go away", she muttered softly, ignoring the amused whispers around her.

A sigh was heard from the person shaking her. "Gai sensei, could I be excused? I have to take Sakura san here to the infirmary", the guys voice had a familiar ring to it and Sakura's brain associated it with soft red hair and gentle mahogany eyes that could be very threatening when they wanted but her weary brain was in no condition to process just who suddenly lifted her off the ground and held her bridal style.

"You have my permission", the coach said, flashing the boy a thumbs up. Said boy sweat dropped and continued to carry her out the gym, ignoring the numerous stares being directed at his back.

Sakura sighed contentedly in the boys arms. Normally, she would be kicking and screaming by now, demanding what right the boy had to carry her but even in her drowsy state, she knew that this person was someone familiar to her and therefore allowed him to carry her.

"You really are something Sakura", the boy thought in slight amusement and continued on his way, the pink haired girl sound asleep in his arms.

* * *

Sakura groaned as she woke up in an unfamiliar room on an equally unfamiliar bed with eerily white sheets.

Why did her head feel like it had just been thrown in a meat grinder and then stomped on numerous times? With another pained groan, she managed to sit up against the headboard.

She remembered that horrible moment in cafeteria and then Kurenai yelling at her. She pushed that thought away in annoyance. Even thinking about it made her feel like another migraine was coming on.

Dismissing the thoughts of Kurenai and her maddening voice, her emerald eyes scanned the room she was in. It was a large room with white walls and more beds like the one she was on. It then hit her that she was in the infirmary.

Nothing about this day had been good, she thought with a groan. Well at least they had their vocalist now. Sasuke had tried out yesterday at Naruto's loft and his voice was pretty good, considering that he had only played guitar in Lithium. And they had finally decided on a name. Katon. Sakura smiled when remembering it. It truly did feel like a good name.

As she lay there wondering about what Naruto, Sasuke and Neji were doing now and what had happened for her to be brought to the infirmary of all places, a sudden chuckle made her jump. Startled, she noticed that she had not been alone this entire time. On a chair beside her bed, with an amused look on his face at her confusion, was her cousin Akasuna no Sasori.

* * *

Deidara watched with a smirk as his best friend Sasori, ever the gentleman, started to walk over to the pink haired girl on the ground and make sure she was alright. The girl was certainly amusing, seeing as she had practically embraced the floor and refused to let go. Probably thought it was her mommy or something, he thought with a chuckle.

She was not bad looking nor was she incredibly stunning, but he had to admit, she had killer legs, all lean and toned and her face had not been too bad either. The let down was the pink hair. Pretentious, was what Deidara thought. She must be dying for attention if she went that far. But what he had noticed most of all was neither her atrocious pink hair nor her killer legs but her hands. They looked small, dainty even, but from closer inspection, one finds that they were calloused and that their fingernails were cut short, obvious markings of someone who was either very athletic (or maybe a handyman ) or a musician. Judging from her show earlier, Deidara suspected that it was the latter.

Well, then in that case, perhaps she would be his next target. With a self satisfied grin, Deidara continued running his laps, taking one last look at the girl that Sasori was now carrying out the gym.

* * *

Sakura stared at her cousin, dumbfounded, trying to form a coherent sentence but ending up opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, earning another chuckle from Sasori.

Ultimately, giving up on forming words, she hugged him in ecstasy. Slowly and awkwardly, Sasori returned her embrace. Despite his appearance, he was never one for physical contact and would have pushed them away if this was someone else but this was his little cousin Sakura, the only person he could actually tolerate that was related to him.

Finally, she let him go, her green eyes sparkling, her migraine seeming to disappear into thin air. "So you finally transferred huh Saso kun?" she asked cheerfully. "Yes, father and mother thought it best that I should attend the same school as you", he responded, straight to the point, just as she remembered.

"Well, it's awesome to see you, but what the hell happened that landed me in here?" she asked, gesturing around the infirmary. Ah, so she had no clue as to what happened before, Sasori thought.

"You fell and then you started hugging the floor saying that you didn't want to leave", he stated simply. Sakura turned three shades of red. As much as she adored her cousin, she wished he wouldn't be so straight forward sometimes. Sasori smirked. His little cousin never ceased to amuse him, which was one of the reasons he liked her, compared to the rest of the family.

"This day just keeps getting better and better", he heard Sakura mutter. A sudden question came to her mind. "Say, Saso kun, how come you knew where the infirmary was? You're still a new student. Heck, this is my first time even coming in here". Ridiculous that she had spent practically her whole life attending this school and had never been to the infirmary before, Sasori noted in wonder.

"I remembered it from the tour", Sasori responded brusquely. Sakura shook her head in amazement. Who else but Sasori would remember the school's layout from a single tour? Her cousin had not changed on bit. Ironically, the boy was thinking the same thing.

Just then, a female voice interrupted their little moment of bonding and nostalgia. "Haruno san, are you feeling okay?" the owner of the voice was a dark haired woman who looked to be in her mid twenties and had a kind smile on her face.

"Y-Yeah, thank you, um", Sakura trailed off, unsure of the woman's name. "Just call me Shizune", Shizune said pleasantly. "Thank you, Shizune san".

"It's no problem Haruno san. After all, it is my job", she went about checking whether Sakura had a fever and any of that sort before handing her a small pill. "You've just got a mild headache going on and there's nothing much I can do about it except give you an aspirin. Just make sure you get plenty of rest and fluids", she continued and Sakura couldn't help but grimace at the word "mild". Picking up the glass of water on the bedside table, she downed the pill in one go.

After Shizune making sure that Sakura was well enough to return to her classes, Sasori escorted her to her next class, English with Kakashi and went on his way, saying good bye to his cousin. As Sakura entered the classroom, Ino and Naruto beckoned her over to sit next to them. Kakashi was late as always. With a grin, Sakura seated herself down between Ino and Naruto and spotted Sasuke sitting in the far corner, brooding as always. Almost all of the girls in the class were staring at him, hearts in their eyes but Sasuke paid them no attention. Sakura smirked to herself. Poor girls. Even in the (extremely) short time she had known him, she had found out that Sasuke was not one for romance. Well, his voice was great so there was no complaint from her.

"You alright Sakura? Heard you were sent to the infirmary", Ino asked worriedly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just having a bad day and a headache", she reassured her anxious friend.

"Good. And have you heard about the transfer group?" Ino asked her cornflower blue eyes bright and excited.

"Huh, what transfer group?" Sakura inquired curiously.

"You haven't heard? There's rumors of a large transfer group that just transferred her at the same time Sasuke kun did", Ino explained and Sakura smirked at the "kun" suffix she had attached to the Emo Prince's name.

"Well that definitely is weird", Sakura mused out loud. "I know right? No school gets such a lot of transfer in such a small period of time".

She and Ino chatted about the transfer group after school as they were heading out to the grounds. Not watching where she was going and not hearing Ino's warning, Sakura suddenly collided with a hard chest and kissed the ground for the second time that day.

A familiar hand reached out to her and Sakura grabbed it thankfully, only to be lifted up by her cousin Sasori. A gasp escaped her and Sasori peered at her worriedly. "Are you okay Sakura?" he asked but his cousin ignored him and kept staring at the, well, scarily familiar group of people flanking him, her blonde friend joining her in her silent battle of staring but having a reason that could not differ more from his cousin's.

Sasori sighed in mild exasperation. He knew this would happen sooner or later but he would prefer it if it happened later but then fate had strange ways of screwing with your life.

"Sakura, you may have to sit down for this".

* * *

So, what are your thoughts? Should I continue with this story or just ditch it? Please let me know by hitting the magic blue button

Love,

Alistair.


	2. Chapter Two

Hi everyone! Before we proceed to the next chapter, I would like to thank Starry123, FarEien, TDI-Ryro-Eclares, CristalKlear, The Girl Across the Street and Kou ame for their reviews! You guys keep me going! Now, on to the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Itachi and all the other dead members of Akatsuki (except maybe Kakuzu) would be alive and kicking and a certain arrogant ass would be dead. The song isn't mine either; it belongs to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Chapter 02

Sakura stared at the wonderful apparition before her, barely processing her cousin's words. At that moment, even if Kurt Cobain himself had risen from the dead and appeared next to her, she would not have noticed because standing in front of her were the members of one of her most favorite bands.

Akatsuki. They weren't wearing their disguises but Sakura could still recognize them. Seto, the bass player with his sleek black hair and dark eyes smiling at her. Kudou, the guitarist with his premature grey hair slicked back and his ever present smirk on his face. And Kei, the lead guitarist and vocalist with his smexy blonde locks and stunning blue eye (the other was hidden by his bang), if those were even their real names.

There were a few other guys that Sakura didn't recognize but what did that matter? Akatsuki of all people were here, in her school!

She glanced to her side to see Ino gaping at them too, her cornflower blue eyes wide and jaw dropped open. Seems like she recognized them too.

But then realization struck her. But to think that her cousin, Akasuna no Sasori, had been Touya, the drummer of Akatsuki all along and hadn't told her! Hell, she had even had a short, keyword short, crush on him (don't blame her, he had had a disguise on) Gross!

Her green eyes blazing, she turned to her frustrated looking cousin. "How come you never told me that you of all people are the drummer of Akatsuki?" she accused fiercely. Sasori sighed. "Don't be so loud, you'll blow our cover", he reprimanded. This had turned way more annoying than he would have liked it to. Thank God the grounds were empty save for them since most of the kids had left or there would have been a huge scene.

"Pfft. You call this a cover? Changing your hair a bit doesn't count as a good disguise. It's a miracle that the whole school didn't recognize you guys", Sakura scoffed quietly. Meanwhile, Ino had recovered from her shock and was gazing dazedly at the members of Akatsuki, seemingly seconds away from melting away into a puddle of girl drool because these guys were definitely smoking hot, especially Kei, who was eyeing the fuming pink haired girl in amusement. So she was a fan, huh? That would only make this so much more fun.

"Don't get your panties in a knot, cherry, yeah", Kei commented offhandedly, eliciting a glare from Sakura. "Shut up. I wasn't talking to you he-she", she retorted but the he-she comment wasn't exactly true. She adored Kei on stage and couldn't deny that he was hot but when provoked, Sakura didn't care who she was messing with. "Who are you calling he-she, you cherry bitch?" Kei spat irately, his good mood ruined. "Go look in the mirror and you'll see", Sakura snapped. Insults of this sort were fired back and forth until the rational Seto and Sasori decide to intervene while Kudou watched with an amused smirk and Ino _still_ stared at Kei. The rest of the group was chatting among themselves.

"This is war, cherry bitch, yeah!" Kei sputtered out as Sasori and Seto grabbed and led him away.

"You asked for it!" Sakura yelled back as the trio walked out of her sight, Kudou and the others trailing behind. Kei's insults could still be heard. She turned back to Ino with a scowl, who had finally snapped out of it. "You just declared war on the member of Akatsuki", Ino spoke disbelievingly. Sakura's scowl disappeared and a smirk took its place.

It's on, he-she. It is on.

* * *

It was a cloudy Saturday and Sakura and the gang were rehearsing at Sasuke's place. Sakura was still recovering from the aftermath of seeing Sasuke's house or if more appropriately, mansion. The dude was filthy rich. We're talking movie star rich with limos and antique vases and all that stuff. Even the freaking garage (or more like mall parking lot) was huge, which was their hangout. Sasuke's mother Mikoto had offered them the ballroom (ballroom?) but since Sakura and Naruto were most comfortable with the garage, they had just fixed their equipment there. Neji wasn't intimidated by Sasuke's wealth since he himself came from a rich family, the Hyuuga clan. He and Sasuke were so similar that they could be siblings if not for the difference in hair and eye color. It was almost scary.

"Okay guys", Sakura spoke. "Until we come up with some song ideas, we'll be playing covers. Any suggestions?"

"How about something by the Chili Peppers?" everyone turned to Naruto, surprised that he had come up with a good idea for once. The gang nodded their approval, beaming at Naruto, well Sakura was beaming while Neji and Sasuke smirked (remember the sibling thing?).

"Californication, then", Sakura concluded and plugged her guitar into the amp. Neji did the same while Naruto settled in his seat and Sasuke took up the mike. Neji and Sakura started on the intro, Naruto and Sasuke joining in soon.

"_Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind's elation_

_And little girls from Sweden dream of silver screen quotations._

_And if you want these kind of dreams_

_It's Californication_

_It's the edge of the world_

_And all of western civilization_

_The sun may rise in the east at least_

_It's settled in a final location._

_It's understood that Hollywood sells Californication._

_Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging_

_Celebrity skin, is this your chin_

_Or is that war you're waging?_

_First born unicorn_

_Hard core soft po-"_

Sasuke was suddenly cut off by a loud voice. "Whoa chibi Itachi, there are innocent kids in here. Watch your tongue, yeah!" Sakura scowled at the familiarity of the tone. Curse them for not locking the garage door.

Kei strutted into _their_ garage as if he owned the place, the rest of Akatsuki following, bringing along their instruments. The members of Katon watched in indignation as they calmly went about setting up their instruments as if they weren't there at all. Sakura scowled at Sasori who shrugged helplessly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke inquired angrily while Naruto and Neji watched astounded that Akatsuki was actually in the same room with them. Sakura rolled her eyes when she saw that not one of them was wearing a disguise. It was no surprise that Naruto and Neji had found out in a second. They were huge fans. She then noticed that Sasuke didn't seem surprised in the least. Angry, sure but surprised, no.

"You seem to be forgetting something otouto. This is my house too", Sakura gaped as none other than Seto came forward, bass guitar strapped across his body and a small smirk on his face. Otouto? Sakura thought in incredulity. What on earth was going on here?

Sasuke scowled at the word. "This is where we rehearse, so I suggest you go somewhere else, _nii_-_san_", he spoke coldly. Now every member of Katon was watching Sasuke and Seto, if that was even his name, with burning curiosity and shock. Were these two brothers? Or was it some sort of joke and they would crack up, saying "just kidding" in a few seconds. But no, Sasuke looked deadly serious although "Seto" was still smirking.

"I said get out!" Sasuke was losing his cool now. "Make us, yeah!" this time it was "Kei". Sasori shook his head and walked up to the two members of Akatsuki."We've blown our cover enough as it is. We don't want the whole school to find out now do we?" he pointed out exasperatedly. Was he the only one that had an inkling of common sense here?

"Sasori, you seriously can't expect us to just walk out here. We were rehearsing, for god sakes. You were the ones that interrupted", Sakura said with her hands on her hips. How dare they just walk in here and pick fights with them? Professional band or not, they had no right to do that.

"Now, look here, cherry bitch yeah. This here, is our garage so I suggest you walk out before someone gets hurt, yeah", "Kei" glared at Sakura who glared back just as fiercely. "No matter what the hell you say, we will put one foot out the door, period", she shot back firmly. Naruto, who had now come out of his daze, seconded that and Neji just scowled at the older blonde boy. Sasuke was still engaged in his silent battle with "Seto".

Now it was Katon vs. Akatsuki. Even "Kudou" had stopped fixing up their instruments and had come up to join the stare down.

"Do you guys want your identities to be revealed to the whole school? Do you want the paparazzi to turn up wherever you go? Do you want girls to stalk you every minute of every day? Because if you do, I won't hesitate to pay you that courtesy", Sakura threatened in a low but dangerous voice. "Seto" looked a bit worried and Sasori looked downright annoyed. They hadn't forgotten the fan girl incident back in their old school, which was why they had transferred in the first place but "Kudou" and "Kei" kept their cool. They weren't bothered by the threats. They thrived in publicity.

The grey and blonde haired teens stood their ground, still glaring at the younger teens. Sakura frowned when she noted her threat hadn't gotten to the two of them. She'd have to step up her game. Then an idea came to her head as she remembered an old article that she'd read about "Kudou".

"Kudou-_kun_", she said in a sickly sweet. He jerked back when he heard the suffix. This "Cherry bitch" as Kei had called her so many times, had something up her sleeve. "Yeah, bitch?" he responded, trying to sound tough but a bit intimidated in reality. Beside him, "Kei" narrowed his one visible eye. What was she up to?

Sakura crossed her fingers behind her, praying that this would work and the gossip magazine she had read on Ino's nagging had had its facts right. Standing up on her tiptoes, she whispered into his ear, ignoring the surprised looks on the members of both Akatsuki and Katon.

"Kudou's" face was uncharacteristically red and horrified looking when Sakura finished. "Not that h-hag. D-Deidara, she's all yours", he managed to say and robotically went back to fiddling with their equipment, the horrified looking never once leaving his face. Sakura smirked in victory and the others wondered what she could have said to have scared a man literally twice her size. "Kei" or Deidara as "Kudou" had called him was still glaring at her. Sakura's smirk dissolved into a frown. She had still to find a way to get Deidara off their asses. She hadn't anything in mind yet so settled for returning his glare as ferociously as she could.

By now, the others had had quite enough of the stare down. "Sakura, Deidara, why don't we just settle for a compromise?" "Seto" spoke in his soft though deep voice, which was similar to Sasuke's. Absently, Sakura wondered if they really were brothers. She raised a delicate pink brow and Deidara just spat out, "What compromise, yeah?"

"We agree to find another place for rehearsal if you don't reveal our identities to the students", "Seto" proposed.

Deidara and Sakura seemed to contemplate this for a second and then burst out "Nah" in unity and then jinxed each other, enmity forgotten for a second before scowling at each other again. The others sweat drop at their childishness, not counting Naruto, who because of his severe case of ADHD, was fiddling with his drum set. "No. No compromise", Sakura shook her head.

"Sakura, as much as I hate to admit it, he's right", who but Sasuke should interrupt her. "If we keep bickering like this, there's no way either group will get any work done". Sakura though it over, surprised that Sasuke had said that many words. Sighing, she realized he was right. They couldn't keep fighting like this every time they met. They had to sort this like the mature, level headed teens they were (not).

"I guess you're right", she gave in grudgingly. Turning to Deidara, she gritted her teeth and held out her arm. "You keep your noses out of our business and we'll keep quiet about yours. Deal?" she asked expectantly. Deidara stared at her hand as if it was covered in cooties or something. Sakura sighed. "Stop making me look like an idiot and just take it. I'm not contagious or anything".

Slowly and unenthusiastically, Deidara grabbed her hand with his leather gloved one. "Deal".

"Good", Sakura said with a smile, taking her small hand out of his big one.

"But don't think this changes anything cherry, yeah", he grinned deviously.

Sakura grinned back. "Not for one moment, he-she".

* * *

Sakura opened her locker obliviously, singing a song in her head. "Ew, Sakura, look inside your locker!" Ino said in a grossed out tone and Sakura glanced inside her poster covered locker. Her mouth opened in a silent scream and a horrible smell invaded her nostrils.

Her locker was full of socks. Dirty, smelly, greenish boy socks.

"Well that's just gross", Ino commented, pinching the bridge of her nose as Sakura slammed her locker shut. Thank god her guitar hadn't been in there. If it was, she would kill Deidara with her bare hands, hot guitarist or not. Because it definitely was Deidara who had done this. Their war had just started and he had gotten the first move. The bastard.

"Sakura, I still can't believe you declared war on Kei of Akatsuki", Ino said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Well, believe it Ino. And I am going to get him back, hard", Sakura responded with a smirk, a plan already forming in her head.

"Now you sound like Naruto", Ino teased as the two made their way to class, not noticing a boy with striking blue eyes watching them. Deidara smirked in anticipation. So Cherry was going to get him back now was she? He had better be on his guard.

Cherries, despite their luscious appearance, were quite sour once you bit into them.

* * *

Sakura smiled to herself in her hiding spot in the little store room from which she had quite a good view of the door to the boys' locker room, quite enjoying her little inside joke. The key phase of her plan was almost complete, now all that was left to do was to enter the boys' locker room. Easy right? Wrong. She had to wait for the exact moment Deidara exited the gym and entered the locker room and then put her plan into action.

According to Sasori, Deidara had gym for the last period (he'd looked quite suspicious when he'd told her that), which, conveniently, was Sakura's free period and that he always went in last, for fear of his identity being revealed. A few guys had already exited the locker room, fresh after bathing and Sakura cracked open the door a little wider and peered out for Deidara.

Aha, there he was! Oh holy mother of crap, was he hot. His long blonde ponytail was undone, like when was onstage and the form fitting shirt revealed his slim figure and lean chest and- Sakura shook her head. You're here on a mission woman, not to ogle, she thought sternly. Just as Sasori had told her, there were no other guys behind him, so he must have been the last to come out from the gym. Watching as he disappeared into the locker room, Sakura waited the amount of time that would take for him to strip (gasp! dirty Sakura) and get into the showers before slowly and silently slinking into the locker room.

As expected, there were no other boys inside and from what she could make out, only one shower was running, probably from the stall Deidara was in and judging from the guitar riff he was humming, he was in stall in the far left corner. Not daring to even breathe, Sakura started to creep closer to his stall. Things were really going her way since Deidara seemed to be too preoccupied in shampooing his hair and singing a Green Day song.

She eyed the small rack that was fixed to the wall beside the top of his stall. A bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo were sitting on it. Standing on her tiptoes and hoping to God that Deidara didn't notice, she replaced the bottle of shampoo with another bottle of her own, putting the other in the pocket of her trousers. As soon as she took back her hand, the shower turned off and a soapy hand grabbed the shampoo. Sakura held her breath in anticipation and then relaxed when the sloshing sound of shampoo against hair was heard. Good, he didn't notice. Then, as silently as she had come in, Sakura snuck out, closing the door noiselessly behind and did a fist pump.

She then went back to her hiding place and waited.

Right on cue, a strangled yell was heard from the locker room. Sakura bit her tongue to stop her giggles and exited out of her hiding place and pretended to just be passing by. The door opened and Deidara appeared, fuming, but the scowl really wasn't having any effect with what the pink hair and all.

Yes, Haruno Sakura had just turned Deidara's immaculate blonde hair pink. And not just any pink, a hideous hot pink.

All her attempts of keeping a straight face proved to be ineffective and Sakura threw back her head and laughed till her sides hurt and tears were threatening to pop out. She sobered up and then took another look at Deidara's face, his enraged face topped with the pink hair and burst into a fit of giggles again. Deidara's scowl deepened.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she took her phone from her pocket and before Deidara knew what was happening, snapped a picture of him.

Deidara blinked, once, twice and then…

"GIVE THAT BACK CHERRY BITCH, YEAH!" his enraged voice could be heard all over the school. Sakura burst out laughing and ran for her life.

Yes, payback was a bitch, wasn't she?

* * *

Well, what do you think? Was the chapter good? Was it bad? Please review and let me know. As always, constructive criticism is much appreciated. And if you have any suggestions, please don't hesitate to run them by me.

Love,

Alistair.


	3. Chapter Three

Hey everyone, here's the third chapter of Battle of the Bands. A big thanks to everyone who reviewed, you know who you are Hope you enjoy it. And this story is set in the States.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, that privilege goes to Kishimoto sensei (I'm so jealous) and I don't own the songs in this chapter either. They belong to the amazing bands Aerosmith and Stone Temple Pilots.

Chapter 03

Deidara fumed and fumed and fumed. That little cherry bitch. How dare she mess with his hair? No one messed with Deidara's hair and got away with it and she had even taken a freaking picture of him! He was going to make sure she paid, dearly. He was going to wipe that little smirk off her face and enjoy every minute of it.

Uttering a long string of very colorful words, he tried unsuccessfully to wash the repulsive pink dye from his hair. She'd even had the nerve to sneak into the boys' locker room. Even though Deidara wanted to snap her pretty little head off her neck, he had to admit she had balls. No one, save for the members of Akatsuki, had ever dared to challenge him so as much as he loathed her, some part of him held a grudging respect for her.

After some time of furious scrubbing and shampooing, the dye gradually started to come out. Deidara noted in relief that when he stepped out of the shower in the apartment he and Sasori shared, his hair had regained most of his previous blonde color and only a few pink highlights were remaining. Grabbing a hair dryer, he dried his hair quick and pulled it up into a ponytail with a scowl. He didn't want to put up his hair into a ponytail. It didn't suit him (in his opinion), but Sasori had insisted on at least changing their hair if they were to keep their identities a secret. It was no problem for Sasori since he dyed his hair brown during shows. The paranoid freak. Personally, Deidara didn't give a shit about being discovered but he didn't want to get on Sasori's bad side either. The dude could keep a grudge.

Speaking of him, Sasori frowned at the bathroom door impatiently. That idiot blonde perfectionist was way too vain when he came to his appearance and he was going to make them both late. Sasori hated being late.

"Deidara, come out of there already. I swear if you make me late I'll-", the impatient redhead was cut off but Deidara coming out of the bathroom, his mouth curled in his trademark smirk. "Keep your pants on Sasori, yeah", he commented unceremoniously and took one last look at his hair. Sasori's frown dissolved into smirk when he saw the faint pink highlights on Deidara's hair. He had to hand it to his cousin, she'd done a good job but now Deidara was going to get her back, twice as hard.

Ignoring his friend's comment, Sasori disappeared into the bathroom to find it in a state of havoc. Shampoo bottles and various hair products were strewn everywhere. Sighing, Sasori picked them up and arranged them in an orderly fashion on the counter. He knew that he had had this coming when he had first decided to move in with Deidara but his only other option was staying with his family which was not exactly a pleasant scenario. But even though they had been friends for years, Deidara's sloppy nature still managed to get on his nerves.

He exited the bathroom a few minutes later only to be greeted by the sight of Deidara slinging his customary black leather jacket on over a tank and grabbing the keys to his beloved Honda. "I'll see you at school. Hope your cousin is ready, yeah", with one last smirk, he walked out the apartment and Sasori heard the sound of the engine roaring and the he was gone, leaving Sasori to sigh and run hands through his hair.

"I sure hope you are ready, Sakura".

* * *

Sakura could barely keep the grin off of her face that morning.

She continuously remembered Deidara's enraged face and PINK hair and kept bursting into random fits of giggles, leading her friends to believe she was crazy until she showed them the picture she had taken. They had joined in her laughter, Naruto clapping her on the back and even Sasuke managed to crack a small smile. But since they were in the presence of other people who knew nothing about the transfer group being Akatsuki, in this case Neji's cousin Hinata and girlfriend Tenten, they revealed nothing about Akatsuki and even though Sakura was dying to spread the picture all over the school, she didn't because then Deidara's identity would be in danger and they had made a deal, and after all, a deal was a deal.

She almost choked on her shake when Deidara and the rest of Akatsuki sat down on a table in the corner of the cafeteria, Deidara's hair still having traces of pink in it. Sasori gave her a small smile and "Seto" smirked at Sasuke.

Burning with curiosity about Sasuke's relationship with him, Sakura turned to the brooding teen. Were they really brothers? If so, why were they so cold towards each other? Bracing herself for a biting response from Sasuke, she asked him the dreaded question.

"Sasuke, is he really your brother?" she asked in a low voice lest someone except Naruto and Neji heard her.

She was surprised when Sasuke answered softly instead of barking at her like she had expected.

"Yes"

"Oh. What's his name?" She inquired. The corners of Sasuke's mouth curled into a frown. "Why do you want to know?" he asked her in an frigid tone, so icy that Sakura actually felt a small shiver going down her spine, but then again, that was probably from the air conditioning.

"No reason. Just curious, but you don't have to answer if you don't want to", she hastened to explain, not wanting to get on Sasuke's bad side and was a tad surprised when he answered her.

"Uchiha Itachi".

"Oh, well thanks for telling me", she said stupidly. "Hn", was Sasuke's only answer before he returned to his silent brooding. But despite his constant brooding, Sasuke fit in quite well with their group and she, him and Naruto often hung out together.

Bored, Sakura found her eyes wondering to where the Akatsuki were sitting, her sea foam green eyes settling on Deidara. He was surrounded by many girls, but caught her eye nonetheless and winked and smirked at her. Sticking out her tongue, Sakura went back to sipping her shake and to anyone who looked, it seemed as though she was nonchalantly sipping her drink while absently listening to the conversation around her but in reality, Sakura was just a teensy bit worried. That smirk that Deidara had given her, it didn't seem natural coming from a guy whose hair she had turned pink just the day before. He had something planned, that was for sure.

Deidara smirked in a self satisfied manner as he saw through Sakura's facade. She was worried and she had every right to be, considering what he was going to do to her. "You better be prepared Cherry, yeah".

* * *

Sakura whistled a cheery tune as she walked out from the gym, still dressed in her gray P.E. T shirt and shorts, to her locker. Gym had been her last period and she had rehearsal with Naruto, Sasuke and Neji in a few hours.

Opening her locker, she grabbed her messenger bag and stuffed her books inside it. She had had the janitor clean out her locker this morning and now it was free of smelly boy socks. With a frown, she noticed that something was missing.

Then it hit her.

Her guitar was gone.

Angry tears pricked her eyes. She couldn't believe this. Her father had given her that guitar as a present on her 13th birthday, mere weeks before he died of a car accident. It was her most precious belonging and the only thing that she had to remember her dad by and someone had taken it from her. She'd kill them.

Out of the blue, her phone rang. Sakura wiped her tears, fuming and fished her cell phone out of her bag. It wouldn't do to cry now. She flipped her silver Samsung open only to see an unknown number calling her. Glossy green eyes narrowing, she pressed the green button and held the phone to her ear.

"Who the hell is this?" she spat out wrathfully, in no mood for pleasantries.

There was no answer. Instead, the intro to "Pink" by Aerosmith started to play and Sakura nearly dropped her phone in her anger. That little shithead.

"You listen here, you asshole, you bring me back my guitar or I swear I will cut off your balls in your sleep", she went off heatedly, sniffing every now and then, ignoring the looks students passing by gave her.

Deidara's only response was a low chuckle and he hung up.

Sakura was beside herself when she dialed her cousin's number, almost wrecking her phone's keypad in the process.

"Sakura?" Sasori's calm voice answered and Sakura felt a little of her anger fade away at the familiar calm tone, but there was still enough left for her to wring Deidara's neck and stomp on him a few times before feeling the slightest bit of remorse.

"Sasori, tell your asshole of a friend that he'd better return my guitar in one piece or I _will _castrate him", she spoke slowly and in a low but vindictive tone.

Sasori's sigh could be heard through the phone. He knew how much his cousin loved that guitar and the history behind it. Count on that idiot Deidara to steal the belonging that held the most value for Sakura. "I knew this would happen once you two started on this stupid war of yours", he chastised. "Fine, meet me at my apartment now and we'll sort this out like civilized people. I'll text you the directions".

Now it was Sakura's turn to sigh. "Sasori, that was my father's guitar and he stole it. I don't think I'm ready to do anything civilized right now", she said before hanging up.

* * *

Deidara sat upon his bed, his fingers absently strumming Sakura's guitar which was fixed to his amp. His plan had worked. Cherry had sounded so angry before that he wondered whether she would really keep her word and cut off his balls in his sleep. The thought brought a smirk to his lips.

With the fingers of a professional, he inspected Sakura's guitar. It was indeed a fine specimen, a black Gibson at that and well used. The initials "H.H" were emblazoned on a small silver plate at the back of the instrument. He wondered whether it had belonged to someone else before Sakura, which would explain why it was a bit worn out but only someone with a fine eye could see that. Other than a few tiny scratches here and there, it didn't even give off the feeling that it had been used. Cherry certainly knew how to take care of her instruments, he'd give her that. How he wished he could've seen her face when she found out her guitar wasn't in her locker like she had left it. Stupid place to keep a guitar, Deidara knew. Anyone could hack into her locker and steal it, like he'd just did. But he didn't actually plan on keeping it. Oh no, he was only going to mess with her a bit and then give it back to her. He was a lot of things, but a thief he wasn't and before, when he had called Sakura, she'd sounded almost desperate and the cherry he knew -though admittedly they had only known each other for a few days and most of that time had been spent plotting schemes against each other- never sounded desperate. This instrument must mean a lot to her then. Deidara knew how she felt. He felt the same way towards his bike. Funny that he should have something in common with her of all people.

While grinning faintly at the thought of him and Sakura having something in common, an idea for a song came into his mind and with Sakura's guitar still around his neck, he reached for a notepad and pen and began to write, cutting off some lines and leaving others. In the end, this was what he had come up with.

_She turned away, what was she looking at?_

_She was a sour girl the day that she met me_

_Hey what are you looking at?_

_She was a happy girl the day that she left me_

_She turned away what was she looking at?_

_She was a sour girl the day that she met me_

_Hey, what are you, looking at?_

_She was a happy girl when she left me_

_What would you do?_

_What would you do, if I followed you?_

_What would you do if I followed?_

It wasn't completed yet and he didn't know what it was about or how it had come to him. It just did. It still needed a lot of work and he had yet to find a tune for it and what better time than the present? Dragging a stool over to the sunlit window, Deidara sat upon it, took Sakura's guitar upon his knees and started to strum and sing softly, which was how, a few minutes later, two very surprised people found him, one with pink hair and the other with red.

* * *

Sakura stared at the well, astounding scene before.

She couldn't believe it. He hadn't done anything to her guitar. Instead, he was actually playing it. All her anger washed away when she saw him handling her guitar with care, and it was replaced by immense relief.

Deidara was sitting up near a window, with _her_ guitar around his neck and he was strumming it, a nice bittersweet tune, and singing softly. All the while, the sunlight from the window enveloped him in an almost ethereal glow, making his loose blonde hair seem like a halo around his face and the subtle smile on his face was well, kind of angelic. And then she laughed at herself. How could Deidara, the boy who had stolen her dad's guitar, look like an angel? Hell, he was supposed to be a demon. She watched as Sasori walked over to him grabbed a notebook from the bed and read it, his expression one of slight surprise.

"What, yeah?" Deidara turned to him and the spell seemed to break, causing Sakura to return to reality, but the two teenage boys in the room hardly seemed to notice her, even though one of them was supposed to be her freaking cousin. Still, she watched, curious to see what would happen between these too.

"It's… different", Sasori managed to say, after a few minutes of silence. Sakura's sea foam eyes widened. This was the first time she'd seen her cousin actually at a loss for words and it was a sight to behold. She wondered what Deidara had written in it.

Deidara shrugged casually. "It just came to mind, yeah", he said. "Did you write it about someone in particular?" Sasori asked, his eyes travelling to the guitar around his best friends neck. Funny that he was actually playing it. He had thought he would have thrashed it or something like that.

"…." Deidara seemed to notice Sakura for the first time and his pondering expression turned into a smirk. "Well, if it isn't Cherry, yeah", he drawled in amusement. He'd been wondering when she'd burst in here, demanding her guitar back and yelling at him like the feisty thing she was. But what she did next was something Deidara would never have expected in his wildest dreams.

She smiled at him.

Yes, she actually smiled at him, the guy who'd stolen something that was undoubtedly precious to her and it confused Deidara. Why would she smile at him? He had been expecting her to scream at him, pull his hair and even hit him but definitely not to smile at him.

Then he noticed that it wasn't actually a smile of happiness or anything of that sort. It was a smile of relief.

Then he got it. She was relieved that he had not trashed her instrument and instead had actually been playing it and the vast relief in her eyes made Deidara sort of glad that he hadn't trashed her guitar. Yes, Deidara did have a heart. He removed it from his neck and unplugged it from the amp before handing it to her. He noted that she held it lovingly and carefully, like how one would hold a newborn baby. He watched her silently trace the silver plate on the back of the guitar. Sasori watched them and then decided that it would be wise to give them some room and exited the room in silence. However, neither of the two teens even noticed him heading out. Each was busy trying to figure out what the other was thinking.

"Why'd you take it?" She asked him, taking him off guard.

"What do you think? To get a rise out of you, yeah", Deidara rolled his aqua blue eyes. He was returning to his normal self.

"Well, I guess you succeeded", Sakura laughed. She too, was returning to her normal self.

"Yeah, guess so", he said nonchalantly. "Why do you, um, love it so much, yeah?" he asked, mostly out of curiosity.

Sakura's expression softened. "It belonged to my Dad", she spoke sadly. Deidara noted the past tense and decided not to comment on it. He knew the pain of losing parents and that talking about it was hard. He had years of anger management and therapy to prove that.

Instead, he grinned at her. Sakura blinked up at him, surprised that he had changed moods so quickly. Before she could comprehend what he was doing, he had grabbed her guitar back and started to strum it, without even connecting it to the amp first.

"I bet that I can play it better than you, yeah", he said with his normal arrogant smirk.

Sakura laughed. She understood what he was trying to do and went along with it. "Oh yeah, just try, _he-she_", she teased him back and things were back to normal in no time, well normal as it could be for Deidara and Sakura. When he returned, Sasori found them on the couch, fighting over the remote control.

Yes, things were definitely back to normal.

* * *

School and life went on as usual, with Sakura rehearsing with her band and studying for mid terms and getting in the occasional silly argument with Deidara or some other member of Akatsuki. She now knew all the names of the band members since they used their real names at school. "Kudou" was Hidan and "Seto" was Itachi and of course "Kei" was Deidara and "Touya" was Sasori. She'd also made friends with a few others in their gang, who weren't in the band, namely a friendly guy named Kisame and a childish one named Tobi. She hung around them now almost as much as she hung around with Naruto and Sasuke, though Sasuke wasn't very happy about her being close to his brother. But still, Deidara and Sasori were the ones she spent most of her time with. She grinned as they caught her eye from the other side of the cafeteria. She and Deidara had made a truce that night at Sasori's and his apartment (Sakura now knew that he too lived there) to not play pranks on each other anymore but they still bickered most of the time. Of course, what was life without a little hot sauce on the side?

That afternoon, she and Sasuke both had a free period and were at the library, going over their notes from Biology for their midterms. Naruto couldn't join them since he had Physics then.

Sakura sighed as she revised the chapter on the excretory system for like the fifth time. No matter how much she read it, she just couldn't remember all of that complicated stuff that happened during the formation of urine. Too many chemicals and such.

"Hey Sasuke, think you can help me with this?" she asked the Uchiha, who was diligently going about his homework, his dark head bent over a stack of papers.

"Show me", he raised his head and said in his usual straight forward manner that might have been considered rude by someone else, but Sakura knew that it was just the way he spoke. Without thinking much of it, she edged her chair closer to his and handed him her notes. Taking a quick glances at them every once in a while, Sasuke started to explain in his deep, brisk tone while Sakura listened attentively. Caught up in the moment, neither of them noticed the hostile glances girls were sending in their direction, well actually in Sakura's direction. How dare she hang out with _their _Sasuke-kun? They'd teach her a lesson later.

So, when Sakura walked into the gym the next period, she was surprised when a group of girls surrounded her, some glaring and others smirking. The leader of the pack moved closer to her, her eyes glaring behind her black framed glasses. She was dressed in the usual P.E. uniform except that he T shirt was too tight and her shorts entirely too short. That, topped off with her choppy red hair screamed "slut". Her name was Karin and Sakura had had a few dealings with her over the years, none of them pleasant.

"So, Sakura-chan", she spoke, an unpleasant smile on her lips. "We understand that you've been spending a _lot_ of time with _our_ Sasuke-kun".

Sakura suddenly had the urge to roll her eyes. So that's what this was about. She should have known.

"Yeah, so?" she asked in a bored tone. She had better things to do than hang out with a bunch of no-brain sluts.

"So", Karin's smile disappeared and an ugly leer took its place. "Sasuke-kun is ours and I will advise you to stay away from him unless you want your life to be miserable", she threatened.

Now Sakura did roll her eyes. "I can hang around with anyone I want Karin. What are you and your slutty friends going to do about it?" Sakura challenged.

Karin and the other girls' glares increased tenfold. "Why you little-", Karin snarled but stopped short when a familiar serene voice interrupted her.

"Is everything alright here?" Sasori asked calmly, Deidara grinning behind him.

"U-Uh, n-nothing Sasori-s-senpai", Karin stuttered, at a loss for words. The rest of the girls were long gone. "I'm sorry", she squeaked and left with a small bow to join her comrades at the bleachers who were trying to soothe their damaged pride.

"Hey cherry yeah", Deidara nodded.

"Hey he-she", Sakura acknowledged teasingly. While they weren't actually friends, she and Deidara didn't hate each other anymore. "Hey, Saso-kun", Sakura greeted her cousin with an exaggerated peck on the cheek to infuriate Karin and her comrades further and slung her arm around his shoulder. Her plan worked, she saw with the corner of her eye that Karin was glaring at her. If looks could kill, Sakura would be dead on the floor right now.

Sasori tensed as his cousin slung her arm over his shoulder. "Sakura, get off", he grunted in annoyance. He was definitely not one for physical contact.

"No", Sakura said simply, grinning at him. Deidara soon caught on and to Sasori's extreme irritation, slung _his_ arm over his shoulder too, grinning when Sasori cringed.

"What, yeah?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"Deidara, Sakura, get off before I make you", Sasori said, running out of patience.

"Ooh, Saso-kun is mad", Sakura teased her frowning cousin. "We'd better run Dei Dei, before he kills us and adds us to his collection of puppets", she laughed, removing her arm and pretending to be scared. Sakura was busy teasing her cousin and both the boys were too preoccupied with the fact that Sakura had called Deidara "Dei Dei" to notice the piercing scowl Karin was directing at the pink haired girl.

"Hogging all the boys to yourself, Sakura. I'll make you pay for this. Dearly".

* * *

There, an update for you guys first thing after getting home from school. This chapter is slightly longer than my usual ones and it looks like Saku-cakes has made an enemy out of Karin. What'll happen next?

I hope you liked it. Please review and let me know. They keep me inspired to continue this story. As always, suggestions and constructive criticism are highly appreciated and to those who don't know, the song that Deidara writes is "Sour Girl" by the Stone Temple Pilots. Listen to it, it's awesome!

Love,  
Alistair.


	4. Chapter Four

Hey everyone! Sorry about the late update, I was swamped with school work. As always, thanks for everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Hope you enjoy this!

Disclaimer: For the fourth time, I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, Kishi does. And I don't own the song in this chapter. It belongs to the late flipping awesome band Nirvana.

Chapter 04

Life was hectic for everyone but hectic was nothing compared as to what was happening in the Haruno household this morning.

It was a Saturday and Sakura had woken up early that morning with the hope of cooking breakfast in bed for her mom, but now, looking at her fruitless efforts, she felt rather compelled to dump all her cooking in the garbage and ring up a pizza man for a delivery, because frankly, she was hopeless at cooking.

The toast was burnt, the pastry for the apple pie she wanted to make for dessert just would not set and the orange juice she had attempted to make was too sour because she'd used too much orange pulp. The kitchen counter was a mess of apple pie crumble and spilt orange juice and there was still a hint of smoke coming from the toaster. All in all, it was a disaster.

With a weary sigh, Sakura glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. It read 6:30. Her mother would be up soon. With another sigh, she collected all her wasted efforts into a black garbage bag and took it out to the side of the road and dumped it into a garbage can.

On returning to the house, she grabbed the phone directory and after skimming through it, dialed the number of a nearby pizza parlor.

"Newman's pizza, May I take your order?" a female voice that was much too cheery for such early hours answered.

Sakura told her her address and ordered a large barbecued chicken pizza with extra cheese and flopped down on the couch to watch some TV, still clad in her pyjamas, which consisted of a loose rolling stones T shirt and cotton shorts and the flowery apron she had put on before cooking.

In the middle of watching, read: making fun of, an awards show on MTV, (What has music come to these days?) the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of her pizza. Put in a good mood from making fun of the outfits some of the celebrities were wearing, Sakura whistled a cheery tune and skipped over to open the door.

"He-She!", "Cherry!" they both exclaimed in unison when she opened the door.

For indeed it was Deidara who was standing in her doorway, sporting a black hoodie and jeans with the headphones of his iPod jammed in his ears and holding her pizza box from which a delicious smell was emanating. His face was a comical mix of shock and surprisingly, embarrassment.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura questioned incredulously.

Deidara seemed to have returned to his usual self since he smirked at her.

"Nice outfit, yeah", he grinned and Sakura blushed, embarrassed to be caught wearing such a ridiculous outfit and by Deidara of all people.

"I asked you a question".

Deidara rolled his incredibly blue slanted eyes. "What does it look like? Doing my job, yeah", he deadpanned and of course, Sakura's mother chose that exact moment to descend upon them.

"Sakura, is this young man your friend?" she asked, giving Deidara a once over.

"No!" they both said in unison because even if they weren't at each other's throats anymore, they weren't friends either.

"We just know each other from school mom", Sakura explained and Deidara wondered how the hell he had forgotten himself in this situation.

"Great, then you should join us for breakfast", Sakura's mom said with a bright smile and Sakura and Deidara both panicked.

"No mom, he was just going to leave", Sakura said, grabbing the pizza from him and practically shoved the money in his face, not even caring whether she had given him more than she should have because she _didn't_ want Deidara-the-arrogant-he-she in her house.

"She's right. I was just going to leave, yeah", Deidara added and made a move to escape to the safety of his bike but his arm was grabbed and he turned in dread to see that Sakura's mother was holding his hand in a surprisingly firm grip for such a petite woman.

"Nonsense, you're staying for breakfast", her tone was cheerful but her smile was just a tad bit foreboding so the two teens didn't dare protest and followed her into the Haruno's kitchen. Immediately after setting the pizza on the table, Sakura ran upstairs to her room and came back into the kitchen sporting jeans, converse and to Deidara's amusement, a white T shirt with a cherry on it, her long pink locks pulled up into a ponytail. Deidara stared at her as she took a seat in the table.

"She's pretty cute, yeah", he thought and then immediately scratched that thought. He had not just thought that Haruno Sakura, with her bitchy attitude and atrocious pink hair was cute. Yes, be in denial Deidara.

Meanwhile, Sakura's mother had fixed them some orange juice to go with their pizza and had served each of them two slices of pizza. They ate in silence and Deidara observed the Haruno household. It was small but cozy and he smirked when he saw a particular photo of a young Sakura wearing a pink tutu on the refrigerator.

Then, out of the blue, Sakura's mother uttered a _very_ surprising statement.

"So, you must be Sakura's boyfriend".

Deidara choked on his orange juice while Sakura dropped the knife she was holding. "Of course not!" she burst out in indignation, which Deidara couldn't second since he was still choking. Where in the hell had this woman gotten that idea from? She was crazier than Sakura!

"N-No, yeah", he managed to say and Sakura's mom handed him a napkin serenely.

"Of course", she said as if she herself had not just implied that a mere seconds and Deidara gave Sakura a look that clearly said "Is this woman crazy, yeah". Sakura smirked in response.

The rest of breakfast passed in extreme awkwardness and Sakura's mother being seemingly completely oblivious to how ill at ease the two teens were. Sakura and Deidara heaved identical sighs of relief when breakfast was finally over and Sakura's mother had left them to say their goodbyes at the doorway.

"Your mother's crazy yeah", Deidara said to which, sadly, Sakura agreed.

"So, I guess I'll see you in school", Sakura said and Deidara nodded.

"See you cherry, yeah", was the last thing he said before starting his bike and driving off.

Sakura watched in amusement as the sound of his engine awoke her neighbors and they yelled at him through their windows, to which the blonde biker responded by smirking and flashing them his middle finger.

Sakura's mother watched the scene from the window.

"Ah, young love", she thought dreamily as she went back to reading her steamy romance novel.

"How cute"

* * *

The next day Sakura woke up with a happy grin on her face. Naruto's birthday was in a few days and she, Ino, Neji's girlfriend Tenten and cousin Hinata were going shopping for outfits and like most girls, Sakura loved to shop, even though she wasn't a very girly girl.

Showering quickly, she put on a simple loose black top topped with a leather jacket (Deidara's style seemed to be rubbing off on her) and a faded denim mini with black leg warmers and converse. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and dabbed on some mild jasmine perfume and after shoving her wallet, iPod and phone into her pockets, was ready.

"Bye Mom!" she called as she exited the Haruno household to find Ino's dark red hybrid (the girl was filthy rich) parked in the corner of the street with three girls already inside.

"Sakura!" Tenten waved to her enthusiastically and Sakura waved back. She liked Tenten but unfortunately, was not able to spend time with her since she was a senior and Sakura was a junior.

"Hey forehead, can't you actually look nice for once?" Ino gave her a mock disapproving once over. Sakura grinned. "I can say the same for you pig, you look awful", she teased, which of course was a lie, since Ino looked great in a baby pink tube top with a white motorcycle jacket on top, (Prada of course, Ino valued brands above anything else) a black denim mini and black stockings combined with black heeled sandals. Her gorgeous platinum blonde locks were down.

Ino rolled her eyes and started the engine and Sakura hopped into the backseat with Tenten, who was sporting her usual tomboyish outfit: a black tank, camouflage shorts and converse, her arms were decorated with multicolored bands and her brown hair was in its usual two buns. Sakura liked Tenten because of her fun and laid back attitude and tomboyish demeanor.

In the passenger seat, Neji's cousin Hinata sat. Hinata was a shy and gentle soul and Sakura thought she was adorable although she was easily embarrassed. She was dressed conservatively in a pale beige sweater, jeans and simple ballet flats. Her long midnight blue hair was pulled into a thick French braid.

The car revved and took off (took it long enough) in the direction of the town's local shopping mall.

Bored, Sakura leaned in front and turned on the radio, tuning into one of her favorite channels. To her surprise and delight, one of Akatsuki's songs began to play. Recognizing the tune, Sakura began to sing along with while the others watched her in amusement (well, Hinata and Tenten watched her, Ino was busy driving, yo)

_Teenage angst has paid off well,_

_Now I'm bored and old._

_Self appointed judges judge more than they have sold._

_And if she floats then she is not,_

_A witch like we had thought._

_A down payment on another,_

_One at Salem's lot,_

_Serve the Servants, oh no._

_Serve the Servants, oh no._

_Serve the Servants, oh no._

_Serve the Servants,_

_That legendary divorce was such a bore._

Sakura sang along with Deidara's now familiar voice. Arrogant ass or not, the dude did have an amazing voice. That day at his apartment, she'd heard him singing a slow song and his voice was beautiful.

"That's not the only part of him that's beautiful", Sakura thought absently, remembering that day when she had screwed with his hair. He had such a nice body…God, what the hell was she thinking. Horrified at the direction of her thoughts, she blushed and put them aside, instead focusing on the conversation inside the car.

"So, forehead, I saw you hanging around with that hot new guy, Deidara", Ino had chosen that exact moment to comment upon her and Deidara's relationship, whatever it was.

"W-What?" Sakura stuttered, the blush refusing to fade away.

"He's one hot piece of meat, that one", Ino said with stars in her eyes. She knew that Deidara was actually Kei from Akatsuki but didn't comment on it while Hinata and Tenten were there.

"Gross. Don't talk about boys like they're something to eat, Ino", Tenten said in a disgusted tone and Sakura was thankful to her for distracting Ino until Sakura regained her composure.

"I guess I do hang with him since he's always with my cousin", Sakura said, pretending to be all Miss Casual.

"Cousin?" Tenten and Hinata both asked. "Yeah, the red headed guy, Sasori", Sakura responded, glad for the change in subject.

"Hook me up forehead, he's yum-"Ino didn't get to finish her sentence because Sakura sent her a mock death glare. "That's my cousin you're talking about. I won't give him to you. Ever", Sakura said with a playful pout. Sasori was hers.

"Ino, I thought y-you l-liked Shikamaru-san", Hinata spoke softly.

"Yeah Ino, what happened to your so called crush on the resident genius", Tenten added and Sakura smiled at the nickname she had given Shikamaru. He was a senior and very lazy though he had IQ of over two hundred.

Ino immediately started to frown at the mention of Shikamaru. "That idiot doesn't respond to anything I do and he calls me "troublesome woman"", Ino complained with a pout not unlike the one Sakura had had on her face just mere minutes ago. She didn't understand why Shikamaru didn't respond to any of her methods of seduction.

Grinning at her friend's boy craziness, Sakura turned to Hinata. "What about you, any luck on Naruto yet?" she asked and the shy girl's pretty lavender eyes saddened. She had an immense crush on Naruto that everyone knew of except the oblivious blonde. "N-No", she said sadly.

Sakura patted her arm comfortingly. "Don't worry Hinata. When he sees how pretty you'll look at the party, he'll come begging to your feet", she reassured.

"Thank you, Sakura", Hinata smiled at her. She would definitely try her best to get Naruto to notice her.

"Here we are", Ino announced as she parked her hybrid in the mall parking lot. With bright smiles and wallets bulging with all the money they had managed to save from babysitting annoying kids and doing part time jobs at cafes, (well this was the case of Sakura and Tenten since Ino and Hinata were filthy rich), the girls walked into the mall.

As soon as they had set foot into the building, Ino dragged them all into one of her favorite stores which of course, was full of the most expensive designer clothes you could find.

As Sakura, Tenten and Hinata flopped down on one of the plush leather couches, Ino started on her scavenger hunt for the perfect dress.

The other three watched in amusement as Ino grabbed one dress after another, inspected it and put it back shaking her head, all at lightning speed. Even the staff had stopped their work and was watching her with slight smiles on their faces.

At long last, after ages of hunting, Ino seemed satisfied with a dress and brought it over to the others. By then, Sakura was listening to her iPod, Tenten was fiddling with her wristbands in boredom and Hinata was thinking about how to get Naruto to notice her.

"Finally", Sakura cried in relief, removing her headphones from her ears. Hinata and Tenten too joined in her exclamation, the former softly and the latter loudly.

The dress Ino had chosen was surprisingly simple. It was a pale pink long sleeved off the shoulder dress that stopped somewhere above the knee and had a thin, almost invisible belt in the waist area. She had also chosen a pair of pink boots to go along with the dress.

"It's pretty cute", Sakura approved in mild amazement. She hadn't thought that Ino would choose such a modest (for her standards) dress. Tenten and Hinata also gave the dress their seals of approval and Ino skipped to the changing room to put it on. When she returned, everyone, even the staff, gaped at her, flabbergasted.

She looked stunning in the dress and it fit her perfectly in all the right places. That topped with her luscious blonde locks and the boots, made her look amazing.

"Damn girl", Tenten said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Sakura drew in a sharp breath through her nose and whistled in a low tone. "I hate to admit it pig, but you look gorgeous", she said.

"Y-you look really pretty", Hinata added.

Ino grinned in a self satisfied manner. "Thanks guys", she said and changed back into the clothes she was wearing before and purchased the dress and shoes and the four exited the shop, Ino swinging her bag happily.

"Okay guys, where do you want to go?" Ino asked and Sakura pointed at an interesting looking store that sold vintage clothes. "There!" she said, practically bouncing in her excitement. She loved vintage clothing. The other three smiled at her enthusiasm and followed the bouncing girl into the shop.

Sakura stared at the clothes with stars in her eyes. They were so pretty. Ino, Hinata and Tenten stared as she hopped all around the store, surprising the store attendants.

"Like a kid in candy land", Tenten commented with a grin.

Sakura wondered around the shop, gazing at different dresses. There were short ones, long ones, dresses with long sleeves, dresses with short sleeves and dresses with no sleeves at all, but she had not yet found something that really got to her.

Then, an attendant walked up to her with a kind smile. "What are you looking for miss?" she asked Sakura.

Sakura pondered a moment before answering. "I'm looking for a dress. Something classic which says "I'm out to have fun, but not too much fun" and it has to be in pale colors", she said.

The attendant smiled knowingly. She then grabbed a stool, stood up on it and produced something from on top of a shelf. It was a pretty blue box with a black pattern and the shop's name on the top. Sakura watched curiously as the attendant opened it and gasped as she took it out.

It was a tube dress that stopped somewhere above the knees like Ino's dress and it was in a soft color similar to beige. It had a silvery sheen to it and wide belt of the same beige in the chest area. Sakura fell in love with it as soon as she saw it.

"Oh my god, it's so beautiful", she gushed and the kind attendant grinned. She too had felt that way when she had first seen the dress. Sakura took the dress happily and walked into the changing room. When she arrived outside, the attendant gave her two thumbs up.

Ino, Tenten and Hinata also arrived at the scene, Hinata holding a dress of her own. They too gushed when they saw the dress, even the tomboyish Tenten.

"Sakura, it looks awesome; you so have to buy it!" Ino squealed girlishly, Hinata joining in, her own dress forgotten.

"I know!" Sakura squealed back happily put paled when she saw the price tag. The dress cost _a lot_. Embarrassed, she changed back into her regular clothes and handed the dress back to the attendant who blinked at her in surprise. "I-I'm sorry, I can't afford it", she said sadly and the attendant sympathized with her. Poor girl.

Hinata, Tenten and Ino felt for their downcast friend. Suddenly, Ino grabbed the dress, shocking the attendant and the girls, placed it in the box carefully and walked over to the counter, credit card in hand. Sakura blinked a few times before coming to her senses. "Ino, stop!" she said in distress. She didn't want her friend to waste money on her, even if she could afford it and the dress was probably worth it. Sakura hated owing people anything. She ran over to Ino and tried to stop her but the determined blonde had already paid for the dress.

"Ino, you didn't have to do that", Sakura chastised, embarrassed for the second time that day.

"Oh shut it forehead", Ino rolled her eyes. "You can pay me back by impressing that hot blonde at the party", Ino said slyly. Sakura shoved her playfully and Ino shoved her back. It was good to have friends that cared about her. Sakura didn't think too much of her "impressing the hot blonde" comment since she was excited about the dress.

"Oh", Sakura cried, suddenly remembering that Hinata too had chosen a dress. It was a flowing silk lilac colored dress with spaghetti straps and went a bit below the knees. It looked like it was made exactly for Hinata.

"Aw, that dress is so cute Hinata. You are so totally going to win Naruto over with that", Ino teased and Hinata blushed. Tenten said that she was going to try her luck someplace else so after Sakura purchased a pair of strappy beige sandals to go with her dress (she never wore heels if she could help it) and Hinata bought a pair of black sandals, they made their way out of the store.

They wondered around the mall, Ino trying to cajole Tenten into buying a dress but the stubborn tomboy wouldn't budge.

"Come on Tenten, you have to get a dress", Ino coaxed unsuccessfully.

"But I don't want to wear a dress", Tenten shook her head firmly and gazed around the mall. She hated dresses. They made her feel sticky, warm, and in all ways, a damsel in distress and Tenten hated being a damsel in distress. Suddenly, a store caught her eye. With a cry, she grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her over to the store.

"Sakura, look at that! Isn't it awesome?" Tenten cried happily.

Sakura checked to see whether her bag was still intact to her hand from Tenten's dragging and looked up to see a store.

"Damn, it's amazing, let's go inside!" Sakura bounced, reciprocating Tenten's excitement.

The two animated teen girls walked into the store, which ultimately was a tech store. When Ino and Hinata had finally caught up to them, they were mooning over new models of phones, PSPs and the like. Ino sweat dropped. It was exactly like Sakura and Tenten to get excited over technology.

"Come on you too, we've got to get you a dress Tenten", Ino tried to get their attention but failed. Sakura was busy checking out a sleek new model of an iPod and Tenten was practically drooling over a PSP.

"Tenten, don't you want to impress Neji at the-", Ino didn't get to finish her exasperated statement because then a voice came from behind her.

"Impress me with what?" Neji spoke offhandedly, looking cool wearing a casual black T shirt and cargo pants and sneakers. Next to him were Naruto, Sasuke and the lazy genius Shikamaru, all of them looking extremely cool and handsome, even the obnoxious Naruto.

"Thank God", Ino cried in relief. "Tell your girlfriend that you want her to look hot at the party".

Much to her frustration, Neji ignored her and walked over to Tenten, greeting her with by squeezing her hand. Tenten turned to him with a grin. "Hey Neji", she said happily. Neji gestured to the PSP she was admiring. "Is that a new model?" he asked with interest. Ino face palmed. Didn't anyone care about clothes these days?

"Yeah", Tenten responded. Neji took the PSP to the counter and paid for it using one of his many cards, got it placed in a box with some games and brought it over to his girlfriend.

"Here", he said in his usual stoic manner but with a slight smile on his lips. Tenten took the box from his hands in eyed him with mock disapproval. "I could have paid for it myself you know", she chastised and Neji smirked and took the box back, surprising Tenten. "I need compensation for it", he said slyly and Tenten pouted. He was so low, tempting her by promises of wonderful technology.

"Fine", she said grudgingly. "I'll buy a stupid dress, happy? Now gimme that", she said and grabbed _her_ beloved PSP back while Ino watched in amusement. That Neji looked anal and emotionless but he sure knew how to wind Tenten up. Now she would definitely have to wear a dress to the party.

Meanwhile, Sakura had stopped her inspection of the new iPods and was chatting with Sasuke and Naruto.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you here, but what are you doing at the mall of all places?" she asked incredulously. She knew for a fact that Naruto and Sasuke especially hated shopping.

"Concert", Sasuke said as if that explained everything. Sakura rolled her eyes at him and repeated her question to Naruto.

"What the bastard was trying to tell you was that we heard that there was going to be a concert here, if he wasn't too anal to speak one sentence", Naruto responded.

"Usaratonkachi", Sasuke muttered in frustration.

"What did you say, teme?" Naruto started in anger and Sakura sighed. Here they went again. She glanced to her right to see Neji and Tenten leaving the store, probably to buy a dress for Tenten. They were so cute together and on her left were Ino and Shikamaru. The blonde was desperately trying to get Shikamaru to notice her, but the lazy genius was busy checking out new gaming systems. Hinata looked like she was going to approach Naruto so Sakura decided to give them some space and grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him out from the shop, cutting short his inspection of iPods.

With an irritated scowl, he turned to Sakura and wrenched his arm from her grip. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked in annoyance.

"Giving Naruto and Hinata some space", Sakura replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Tch. You're annoying", he said. He didn't actually mean it though. Out of all the girls in the school, Sakura was the only one he could actually tolerate but sometimes, she went overboard.

Sakura chose to ignore his comment. She knew he didn't mean it. Instead, she changed the subject.

"So what about this concert you and Naruto were talking about earlier?" she asked curiously, wondering who would be playing at the concert.

"The Chili Peppers", Sasuke responded with a smirk and Sakura gaped at him, mouth open like a goldfish. Then she laughed out loud.

"Nice one Emo Prince, now seriously, who's playing?" she asked. Funny that Sasuke should crack a joke.

Sasuke frowned. "Uchiha's don't kid", he replied in an "I'm dead serious" tone of voice.

Sakura paled. The Chili frigging Peppers were playing at her hometown? Sasuke had to be shitting her!

"That is so flipping awesome!" Sakura exclaimed out loud and did a little dance, surprising people who were shopping. Sasuke shook his head in slight amusement at her antics. She definitely was unique.

"But how come no one else seems to know about it?" she asked curiously. The other people at the mall didn't look like they were there for a Chili Peppers concert. They looked like normal shoppers, going on about their daily lives.

"It's a surprise concert", Sasuke replied simply. By now, they had reached the mall food court. (This certainly was a big mall)

"But then how come you and Naruto know about?" Sakura accused. Sasuke smirked broadly. "I have my ways", he replied cryptically and Sakura rolled her eyes at the unlikely cliché act from Sasuke. Ordering some food, they sat down at the table and idly watched the people around them. Sakura thought she glimpsed a flash of familiar blonde hair but dismissed it as paranoia.

"Where are they going to hold the concert?" Sakura asked softly, afraid of people hearing.

Sasuke shrugged off handedly. "I only know that it's supposed to be held here", he said from between sips of his coke.

Suddenly, the whole food court was enveloped in screaming teenage voices and Sasuke almost choked on his coke.

"It's the Chili Peppers!" someone yelled ecstatically.

"The Chili Peppers are here at the theatre!"

"Get the children out of here!" Sakura and Sasuke both smirked at that. The Chili Peppers were notorious for the unpredictability and their shows went way above the PG-13 variety.

The food court was suddenly filled with screaming people trying to get down to the lower floor, some to attend the concert and some to get their butts out of here. Sasuke and Sakura were jolted around and Sakura very nearly stabbed her eye with her fork when someone pushed her.

"Are you crazy, you could have taken my eye out!" Sakura yelled after him irately, but the person had already disappeared. By now, the food court was in a state of complete chaos, tables and chairs were overturned and food littered the ground while people frantically tried to get to the lower floors.

Not wanting to get stomped on, they abandoned their food and too made their way to the theatre, getting shoved and pushed by people all the way.

"Stick with me Sakura", Sasuke said and grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him. Sakura blushed. She had never been this close to a boy before. She could practically feel Sasuke's heartbeat from underneath the dark T shirt he was wearing. They were being pulled along by the gigantic wave of Chili Pepper-crazy people.

But then, someone crashed into Sakura and she was thrown into someone else's arms. "Sasuke!" she called but the Uchiha was already being pushed in the direction of the lower floors by the waves of the people trying to get to the concert. For the first time in her life, Sakura cursed the Chili Peppers for their unpredictability. Couldn't they just say in advance and save them the trouble of getting stomped on? She was glad she had left her dress in the gaming store with the others or it too would have been ruined.

Grunting, she pushed herself off of the person she had crashed into and glimpsed familiar long blonde hair that had escaped from the person's ponytail.

"Oh crap", the both said in unison.

"Could this day get any worse?" Sakura muttered from under her breath and she could hear Deidara too saying something else along those lines.

"Look, it's Kei from Akatsuki!" a girl's high pitched scream was heard from the waves of people and the Chili Peppers were forgotten. Hundreds of fan girls came running in their direction and Sakura and Deidara both face palmed.

"It just did, yeah".

* * *

So, did you like it? Didn't like it? Let me know by pressing the periwinkle blue button below! LOL. And if you don't know, the song is "Serve the Servants" by Nirvana. Hope you liked the chapter; it's my longest one yet.

Love,

Alistair.


	5. Chapter Five

Hey everyone! I apologize profusely for the wait. It's just that the exams are nearing and I'm suffering from an annoying case of writers block. And did anyone read the last two chapters of Naruto? They were so sad. I cried like a dozen times. Itachi is my favorite character…Anyways, here is the fifth installment of BOB. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, period.

Chapter 05

Sakura stared in horror as hordes of fan girls came running to where she and Deidara were standing, with cries of "Kei sama!" The Chili Peppers were forgotten as the girls shrieked, trying to get through the crowds to get to Deidara.

"Come on, let's run", Sakura said in a frenzy but Deidara didn't budge. "It's no use, yeah", he said quietly and instead of joining in escaping the clutches of his fan girls, he grabbed Sakura's hand and to her extreme astonishment, pulled her to his chest. Sakura gaped at him, her green eyes widening comically. Even the fan girls had stopped their running and were staring at them with amazed looks on their faces.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sakura whispered fiercely, trying to free herself from his grip but it was like iron. He sure was strong for such a slim guy.

"Shut up and play along, yeah", he muttered under his breath so that only Sakura could hear him. The fan girls were still watching them with their mouths open. Most of the rest of the crowd had receded by now, probably to the concert.

Sakura cringed as Deidara lowered his head to hers. "I'm cannot believe this is happening", she muttered in exasperation. Her first kiss was going to be taken away by some he-she idiot. "Don't worry, yeah. It's only a faux", Deidara rolled his eyes and Sakura could see herself reflected from inside his clear blue orbs. His eyes were mesmerizing, she realized in wonder. Suddenly aware of whom she was with, she shook away her thoughts and sighed.

"Fine, the sooner we get this over with, the better", she agreed and Deidara nodded almost imperceptibly before lowering his face even more, his blonde hair cascading around them like a fall, shielding them from the view of the fan girls. His arms wrapped around Sakura's waist and soon catching on, Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck as though they were actually kissing.

The fan girls gasped in alarm. What was their beloved Kei-sama doing, kissing that pink haired girl?

Meanwhile, inside the magical realm Deidara's hair had made, the two teens were smirking at the confusion of the fan girls. "Your fans are idiots", Sakura whispered. "Does that count for you too, yeah?" Deidara whispered back, his minty breath fanning Sakura's face, the tip of his nose almost touching Sakura's. He smelled like vanilla and something else she couldn't identify, she thought and tried not to blush and come up with a sarcastic remark but Deidara himself saved her the embarrassment. Raising his head, he smirked at his shocked fans and made a big show of kissing Sakura's forehead, for real this time, making the pink haired girl blush and leading the fan girls to believe that they had actually kissed before.

"This is my girlfriend, cherry", Deidara started in his usual arrogant tone and the fan girls' mouths opened even wider.

"So I'd appreciate it if you would back off, yeah". The girls' expressions turned into those of disappointment. So he already had a girlfriend? Shoulders slumped, they took one last glance at Deidara and walked off, disappointment radiating off of them in waves.

Waiting until all the girls had disappeared, Sakura and Deidara disentangled themselves awkwardly.

"Now that I think about it, I actually feel a bit sorry for them", Sakura said and Deidara shrugged casually, straightening his jacket. "I can't help if they're idiots, yeah", he remarked unsympathetically.

"So", Sakura said, clearing her throat, still a bit disoriented from what had happened earlier. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Came to get supplies, yeah", Deidara replied as if that explained everything and for the first time, Sakura noticed a red and black messenger bag draped over his chest.

"Supplies?" Sakura echoed, raising a delicate pink brow expectantly.

With a sigh, Deidara elaborated. "Art supplies, yeah".

"You're an artist?" Sakura asked skeptically. Deidara's eyes narrowed at the tone of her voice. Did she think he didn't have the potential to be an artist?

"Is that so hard to believe, yeah?" he stated brusquely and walked away, his long legs taking quick strides over the tiled floor of the mall. Sakura stared at his back for a moment. Had she just offended him? Hesitating only a split second, she started after him, jogging to keep up with his long stride.

"Oh come on, I didn't mean to _offend_ you, if that's what you're getting all touchy about", she rolled her eyes as she caught up to him and Deidara smirked. If he wasn't mistaken, cherry was actually worried about him.

When he finally slowed down to match her pace, Sakura resumed her queries.

"So what type of art do you do?" she asked as they walked on slowly, Deidara wanting to get to the art supply store.

"Sculpting, yeah and some traditional art here and there too", he responded casually.

Sculpting? Sakura thought. It seemed like this guy actually had some depth to him beneath the arrogant and narcissistic demeanor. That was nice to know.

"Interesting", was all Sakura said and they continued walking in silence, their rubber soled shoes making no sound on the floor. Sakura could hear the faint sound of a guitar being played, most probably in the theatre where the Chili Peppers were performing. Maybe Sasuke and the others were already there, she thought absently.

"Hey Deidara", she turned to the blonde and he raised a blonde eyebrow expectantly.

"Do you want to go to the concert? The Chili Peppers are playing after all", she asked, not at all sure why she had asked him that.

Deidara's smirk returned to his face. "Are you asking me out, cherry yeah?" he asked slyly and instead of blowing up like he had expected, Sakura responded just as slyly.

"Why, I'm supposed to be your _girlfriend_, right _Dei_ _Dei_?"

"Pardon?" The voice, though soft, was like the crack of a whip in the silence around them and recognizing the voice, both Sakura and Deidara froze. Shit, they thought in unison (can you even do that, think in unison?) and turned around to see Sasori staring at them, his face deathly calm.

"U-Uh, hey Saso-kun", Sakura said, trying and failing to sound nonchalant, her nervousness visible in the way her eyebrow twitched. In contrast to her, Deidara appeared so completely relaxed that Sakura wondered that besides being able to sing and sculpt, whether he was able to act too.

"Sasori", he said coolly and Sasori's eyes narrowed. The idiot still had the nerve to act relaxed after what had conspired between him and her cousin just mere seconds ago?

"Deidara, I want to have a talk with you", Sasori said in his usual serene manner, but something about it was off.

Deidara shrugged and followed him down a hallway, with a "See ya cherry, yeah", to the nervous Sakura, which of course, ticked Sasori off even more. Sakura bit her lip as the two of them disappeared down a hallway. Sasori would probably kill Deidara before he had a chance to explain himself. Her cousin was not known for his patience.

Without warning, her phone rang and the familiar intro of "Boys and Girls" by Good Charlotte started to play. Ino was calling her.

Sighing at her current predicament, she extracted her phone from the pocket of her mini skirt and answered it.

"Forehead, where are you!" Ino screeched, making Sakura wince. She could hear the pulsating noise of music in the background which meant Ino was at the concert.

"Someplace in the mall", Sakura answered vaguely and she could hear Ino scolding someone. Naruto had probably tried to grab the phone to talk to her.

"Hey Ino, are you there?" she called but someone else answered her.

"You should probably get here before these two kill each other", the voice sounded exasperated.

It was Sasuke.

"Yeah", she answered with a slight smile and then hung up.

She walked through towards the theatre, thanks to the layouts of the mall that were posted all over the walls. The sound of music got louder as Sakura approached the theatre but her mind was entirely someplace else.

"I swear, if those two kill each other, I will kill them myself".

* * *

Sasori's expression was stiff as he led Deidara through a series of hallways, and abruptly stopped at an abandoned one, causing Deidara to slam into him.

"Watch it, ye-", Deidara stared but stopped in shock when Sasori suddenly turned to him and slammed him against the wall, his usually soft mahogany eyes livid. His hand gripped the collar of Deidara's jacket.

"What the hell was that about?" Sasori's voice was low and calm, but the threat behind it was obvious.

"Chill out, yeah", Deidara rolled his aqua eyes and hastened to explain. "Fan girls recognized me and we just pretended to be couple, yeah". This seemed to calm the protective red heat down a notch but his grip on Deidara's collar didn't loosen.

"Elaborate", he said austerely.

"Jeez Sasori, we just pretended to kiss, keyword _pretended_", Deidara rolled his eyes, leaving out the part where he had actually kissed her forehead and declared that she was her girlfriend in front of his fans. "That's it, yeah".

Sasori visibly relaxed and let go of Deidara, who straightened his jacket, though the frown didn't leave his face.

"Fine, I'll let you off this once but if you wish to associate with Sakura in any way, you'd better clean up your act", Sasori said somberly and with one last look at Deidara, left.

Deidara rolled his eyes once more.

"Paranoid freak, yeah", he muttered.

* * *

Meanwhile at the concert, the Chili Peppers were playing and the crowd was crazy and Sakura was trying hard to feel it but try as she might, she just couldn't concentrate on the music. Instead, she was worried over as to what may have transpired between Deidara and Sasori after they had left for God knows where.

Biting her lip, she hoped that the two of them hadn't killed each other. Hopefully, by now they had cleared up that little misunderstanding and were eating pizza and sipping coke at The Pizza Hut. And then, maybe they were in the ER, bloody and bruised.

Knowing both her cousin's and Deidara's short tempers, Sakura suspected that the latter was the more likely scenario. Sasori might seem serene and calm, but when provoked, well… let's just say that subject was better off left alone and Deidara, the rash and impulsive idiot that he was, would probably blow up in Sasori's face if he roused him enough.

Groaning in exasperation, Sakura tried to concentrate on the show. The Chili Peppers were playing "Californication" and Sakura watched in amazement as John Frusciante, A.K.A the musical reincarnation of Jesus Christ, launched into the solo with such emotion and fervor that all her worries went away and cheered wildly along with the rest of the crowd much to the amusement of Sasuke, who had been watching her, curious about what had happened that had made her so nervous but since she hadn't told him anything, didn't ask.

Sakura's blissful moment of obliviousness was rudely cut short just as Anthony started into the vocals because her phone vibrated, signaling the arrival of a text.

Squeezing through the crowds to get to a secluded spot, she flipped open her phone to see that the text was from Sasori.

She smiled as she read it. Her cousin really did know her.

_Sakura, as you are so obviously thinking, Deidara and I didn't send each other to the hospital. We worked it out like civilized people and I assure you that everything is fine. Take care._

_Sasori._

The text was just like Sasori; concise and straight to the point, Sakura noted and flipped her phone shut, thrusting it back into her pocket.

"Everything okay Saks?" Tenten asked her from alongside Neji when she somehow squeezed her way back to their spot, stepping on too many toes.

"Yeah", she replied cheerfully and grinned as the Chili Peppers started on Dani California, Anthony prancing around the stage, Flea rocking out to his bass guitar, his hair pink today, John playing coolly at his spot and Chad behind his drum set, drumming the familiar chill tune.

Everything definitely was fine.

For now.

* * *

It was the day of Naruto's party and no one was concentrating on schoolwork. The teachers had commanded them to quiet down so many times that they had lost count and finally given up, leaving the children to do what they liked.

The whole cafeteria was abuzz with cheerful chatter. It was Naruto's sixteenth birthday and was bound to be something to look forward to. In the past, Naruto's parties were always the most fun since the hyperactive blonde valued enjoying life over anything else. Most of the juniors and seniors were invited and the girls were gushing about what outfits they were going to wear while the guys chatted about how they should bring as dates and whether the party would have beer, to which Naruto grinned slyly.

To Sakura's amusement, Tenten had bought a dress; a simple little black dress with straps that went down to her knees. She had dramatically claimed that it was the only dress she could actually bear wearing.

Unexpectedly and much to their disgust, Karin walked over to the Sakura and Inc. table, her arms crossed over her stretched and extremely tight T-shirt and a smirk on her face.

"Sakura", she sneered unpleasantly. "I don't suppose you've got a date for the party yet?" she stated more than asked, eliciting glares from Sakura, Tenten and Ino while Hinata frowned slightly in disapproval.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern", Sakura retorted just as unpleasantly. It was true that she didn't have a date yet and she didn't particularly want to. She would probably go with Sasuke as friends.

Karin smirked. "Is that just a cover for the fact that no one asked you since your forehead is so big?" Sakura's glare deepened at the comment. By now, the whole cafeteria was watching, even the Akatsuki. Sasuke and Naruto tensed, ready to defend their friend if something happened. Sasori and Deidara watched the scene, the former in slight worry and the latter in amusement. What would cherry do?

"Oh yeah? At least I'm not a slut who goes around the school flashing her boobs to anyone and everyone hoping that someone would see past her whorish demeanor and ask her out", Sakura snapped angrily. She was standing now, her knuckles clenched at her sides.

"Ooooh, Burn", the students said in a low tone, Sasuke, Itachi, Hinata, Sasori and the other practical ones aside.

If looks could kill, Sakura would be dead on the floor by the glare Karin was sending her way. Her eyes were practically slits and she was taking deep breaths through her nose.

"I'm not the bitch who tries to hog all the boys in the school. Tell me Sakura, isn't that redhead actually your cousin? Gro-", Karin didn't get to finish her sentence because Sakura drew back her fist and smashed it into her face with a growl.

Karin howled, clutching her bleeding nose while Sakura smirked triumphantly. "You were saying bitch?"

Apparently deciding it was a good time to interfere, Sasuke and Sasori jumped in, Sasori restraining Sakura while Sasuke glared at Karin. "Piss off Karin", he glowered and still bawling, the girl ran from the cafeteria, her companions following her.

Silence ensued in the cafeteria and then, much to Sakura's surprise, people began to clap, first slowly and then evolved into full blown cheers. Naruto, Tenten and Ino were laughing their heads off and the Akatsuki were watching with interest, Deidara with a grin on his face. Cherry had a pretty good right hook. Itachi too, was smiling at her.

"That was awesome Sakura-chan", Naruto said in between laughs and Sasori, sensing that it was safe now, let go of Sakura. And then to her shock, he too started to chuckle. Even Sasuke and Neji cracked small smiles.

"Looks like she won't be getting a date now", Tenten giggled.

"She deserved it", Sasori said firmly. He himself had been enraged by Karin's low comment and was about to step in when Sakura had taken care of it for him.

"Yep. No one insults my cousin and gets away with it", Sakura said and punched Sasori playfully on the arm, making him grimace.

Sasuke inspected Sasori calmly. At least one of his brother's friends was tolerable and not to mention sane, which was too much to say of his other friends, especially the rash blonde and Sasuke noted with disdain that he was headed to their table.

"Pretty good shot, yeah", Deidara commented from behind Sakura and she turned to him with a grin, her eyes bright and hair in disarray. Absently, Deidara thought she was kind of cute.

"Thanks Dei Dei", Sakura said and reached in for a high five, which Deidara seemed like he would reciprocate but at the last moment, he took his hand away and flipped his hair. "Jerk", Sakura pouted and Deidara smirked.

Sasuke frowned at the familiarity of the two. What was Sakura doing hanging around his brothers' friends and the impulsive blonde at that. Meanwhile, Naruto, Ino and the others watched them with grins on their faces. Seemed like they had come to a truce after all and the blonde didn't seem that bad.

When Sasori and Deidara made to get back to their tables, Naruto addressed them cheerfully, much to the irritation of a certain Uchiha.

"Hey, if you have time, do you think you could come to my party this evening?" he asked expectantly. The two members of Akatsuki watched in surprise. Deidara raised his eyebrows at Sasori, silently communicating. It couldn't be that bad and cherry would always be there to annoy.

"Sure, yeah", Deidara said casually and Naruto brightened. Akatsuki were actually coming to his party! He wished he could say this to the other kids. It would be priceless.

Sasori too agreed politely and after Naruto gave them his address, left to their table. Nobody seemed to be aware of Sasuke's disapproval and chatted happily among themselves. The Akatsuki were coming to Naruto's party. That would be fun since Sasori and not to mention Deidara would be there to tease, Sakura thought cheerfully.

Maybe this could be the start of a good friendship?

Then again, maybe not.

* * *

That evening, the girls gathered at the Yamanaka Household to get ready for the party. So far, Ino's room was in a state of chaos. Clothes and shoes were scattered everywhere, makeup was strewn over the dresser and the bed was littered with bottles of nail polish, hair clips and the like.

"Sakura, sit still", Ino commanded exasperatedly. "I can't do your eyes if you keep fidgeting like that", she scolded.

Sakura stared at her reflection grumpily. Her hair was braided and she was dressed in a white towel and Ino was trying to do her eyes. "Do I have to wear makeup?" she whined childishly for the millionth time that evening and Ino rolled her cornflower blue eyes.

"Yes Sakura, you have to wear makeup", she said as if to a three year old and continued to do Sakura's eyes.

Meanwhile, Hinata was already wearing her lavender dress and her dark hair was pulled into an intricate bun and a few strands were framing her face artistically. She was wrapping her present for Naruto, which was a collection of video games she knew that Naruto had craved for months. Tenten was still in the bathroom since she was the last to go because she was so reluctant to wear the dress.

"For the last time Sakura, stop moving!" Ino cried. "I have to do myself too you know", she said as Tenten emerged from the bathroom.

Glumly, Sakura impatiently waited until Ino was done and scrambled into the bathroom with her dress and shoes and quickly put them on and re-entered Ino's bedroom and once again sat in the dresser, this time for Ino to do her hair.

With lots of twisting and turning and experimenting, Ino finally styled her hair into some sort of a half-bun, if such a thing even existed. She ran two chopsticks through the buns and the rest of Sakura's hair fell in waves, resulted from the braid she had put her hair in earlier.

"Finally", Sakura exclaimed with a sigh of relief and joined Hinata on the bed. Tenten still had not come out of the bathroom.

"Come on Tenten, Neji will be here soon", Ino cried from the dresser, where she was putting on her makeup.

Grimacing, Tenten reluctantly appeared from the bathroom, fingering the hem of her black dress nervously. Her usual buns were undone and her luscious brown locks fell past her shoulders.

The girls stared at her in shock. Tenten never wore her hair down and boy was she stunning!

"What? What are you staring at?" She asked uncomfortably. "Do I have something on my face or whatever?"

Smiling, the girls shook their heads and said that it was nothing. Tenten was totally oblivious to her own gorgeousness.

Numerous loud honks told them that the boys were there to pick them up.

After a lot of wheedling and possibly some threats, Ino had somehow gotten Shikamaru to be her date. Tenten of course was going with Neji and Hinata didn't want to go with anyone but Naruto but since it was his party, she couldn't so she was going with one of her childhood friends, a fun guy called Kiba. As for Sakura, she was going as friends with Sasuke.

Grabbing their presents, they made their way out of Ino's house to see a sleek black limo (insert face palm from Sakura and Tenten) parked in the driveway. Neji really did like to flaunt his wealth. Sasuke's and Kiba's vehicles were more non-conspicuous, the former having a shiny black '67 impala and the latter, a blue and black motorcycle, much to Hinata's horror. Shikamaru was hitching a ride with Neji.

They exited their vehicles and Neji's gaze settled immediately on Tenten. To him, she was gorgeous.

"You look beautiful", he walked over to her and whispered softly so that no one else except she could hear. He meant it, she did look beautiful.

However, Tenten didn't waver. "Really, Neji? A limo?" she asked incredulously. Neji shrugged noncommittally.

"It's the only vehicle that was available that was large enough". Shaking her head, Tenten followed him into the limo, Ino and Shikamaru following. Sasuke beckoned for Sakura to get in his car impatiently. With a squeal, Sakura inspected his car.

"This is so cool, Sasuke", she said, totally envious of the now smirking teen. This was her most favorite car. She had fallen in love with it the first time she had seen Supernatural (not to mention Dean too)

Getting in, she waved to Hinata and Kiba, who was trying to convince the shy girl that the motorcycle was safe, before following Neji's limo.

"Seriously Sasuke, you are so lucky", Sakura said, running her hands over the smooth leather seat of the impala. "Hn", Sasuke said with a _very_ self-satisfied smirk. He had purposefully brought this car over because he had known that Sakura would love it. They could hear the roar of Kiba's bike from behind them and soon the eight teens were at Naruto's house, which lit up the whole neighborhood. The sound of loud music enveloped the whole neighborhood.

Her and Sasuke's present inside her messenger bag, which she had brought despite Ino's claims of it being "boyish and out of style", she and Sasuke made their way into Naruto's house, where a few teens were already dancing.

Neji and Tenten were already inside and wishing Naruto a happy birthday when they found them. Behind Sasuke and Sakura were Kiba and Hinata. The latter blushed when she saw Naruto, who was looking extremely adorable with just-showered hair, an orange T-shirt with a black jacket and black pants with converse.

"Happy Birthday Naruto", she hugged him while Sasuke just patted him on the back (in the manly way) and handed him the present that she and Sasuke had chosen together that day at the mall. Like a little kid, Naruto excitedly tore away the wrapping and paper and set aside the box to find a glossy new black iPod.

"Thanks guys", Naruto said with a grin. He'd wanted a new iPod ever since his old one broke down. Setting the instrument back in the box and on the table where the rest of his presents lay, Naruto turned to find Hinata blushing profusely, her hands clutching an orange and black wrapped parcel.

"H-Happy birthday, N-Naruto kun", she stuttered and bowed while stretching out her hand towards him, the parcel on them.

"Thanks Hinata-chan", Naruto replied cheerfully and ripped open the present with even more enthusiasm than when he had opened Tenten and Neji's present, which had been a set of hard-to-find rock and roll records.

His cerulean blue eyes shimmered with glee when he saw the games he had wanted since God knows when. Ecstatically, he hugged Hinata, scaring the poor girl almost to death.

"Arigato Hinata", he said against her hair, pulling her close to him. Hinata blushed even redder than the tomatoes that Sasuke loved to eat so much.

The others smirked knowingly at them.

Just by looking at the two of them, still in each other's arms, they could tell it would be a long night for everyone.

* * *

So, what did you think? I know, it was a filler chapter. The next one will contain all the action! Anyway, it's a bit sad that this story has almost over 150 hits but only a few reviews so I hope you guys review, even if it is to say that the chapter sucked because reviews motivate me to write and update quickly, so please do! That being said, hope you enjoyed the chapter even if it was a filler!

Love,

Alistair.


	6. Chapter Six

Hey! A quick update to you all! Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: *Glares at pesky lawyers through the crack in the door* "I don't own Naruto or any of its characters though I do own an anvil which I won't hesitate to throw it at you if you don't stop bothering me". And thanks to all who reviewed this far! That being said, on to the chapter and be warned, there is some cussing.

Chapter 06

The stereo in Naruto's spacious living room was on full blast as the crazy kids of Konohagakure rocked out to Fall out Boy and Simple Plan. Teens were chugging beers Naruto had sneaked from his parents' liquor cabinet and the Uzumaki lounges previously spotless hardwood floor was littered with empty beers cans, food and the like. Thank God Naruto's parents were on a business trip. Sakura felt sorry for whoever that had to clean up the mess after.

"Addicted" by Simple Plan started to play and she grinned, grabbed her date's hand and dragged him to the dance floor, A.K.A Naruto's lounge.

Scowling, Sasuke pulled his arm out of her grasp.

"No. Way", he deadpanned.

Sakura pouted huffily. "Oh come on, Sasuke-_kun_", she wheedled, making her best sad puppy dog face. Sasuke stared back at her apathetically. No way was he going to dance. Not that he didn't know how to, his mother had seen to that, but dancing in front of all these people? No damn way. Even though Sakura was the one asking him, he didn't want to and Uchiha's only took part in things that they wanted to do. Arms crossed over his chest, he made his way back to the couch he had been occupying before Sakura had dragged him onto the dance floor.

"You're no fun", Sakura pouted huffily. Why had she come with him in the first place? Making sure to frown at Sasuke, she exited the house and walked into the garden, where even more teens were having fun and chatting among themselves, hoping to find Naruto or someone who would be glad to dance with her, unlike that stubborn Uchiha.

But to her immense disappointment, her friends were all busy. Naruto was chatting amiably with Hinata, who was flushed a bright pink, his arm cast friendlily around her shoulders. Tenten and Neji were making out on the lawn (they were a couple after all) and Ino and Shikamaru were bickering as usual. Not wanting to disturb them, Sakura turned back with a defeated sigh and made to walk back inside the house, mind set on getting a beer and listening to her iPod when unexpectedly, the unmistakable sound of a motorbike and a car met her ears.

Her disgruntled expression replaced with a grin, Sakura ran to the Uzumaki Household's driveway to see a gleaming black motorbike and car parked there, a very familiar group of smirking teens next to the vehicles.

"Hey Cherry, yeah", Sakura's heartbeat quickened at the sight of him. He was undeniably hot, clad in a dark red tank; his customary leather jacket with its sleeves rolled up over it and sporting combat boots. His hair, immaculate as always, was tied up in a ponytail. He was wearing his impish grin and his stunning blue eyes were gleaming with something Sakura couldn't put her finger on. She stared at him, her eyes wide. Had he always been this handsome? She knew the answer to that. It was yes. She just hadn't noticed it before.

"Like what you see, yeah?" Deidara spoke arrogantly, ruining the moment completely. Sakura awoke from her reverie with a start. Trying to hide her blush, she stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

"You wish", she said, trying to cover up the fact that she had been blatantly eyeballing him.

Deidara smirked. She was such a contradiction; trying to deny that he looked attractive when she actually thought he was. He guessed he was the same though. She looked tasty, dressed in that pretty little dress of hers and with her feisty demeanor but he would rather die than admit it to her face.

"This is just a taste of how awesome I really am", he said egoistically. The rest of Akatsuki rolled their eyes. Once Deidara's narcissism took over, there was no turning back.

"You? Awesome. You wish, he-she", Sakura retorted with an eye roll of her own. Sure, he was hot but that was just pushing it.

Itachi walked forward with an amused look on his face. Did these two ever really stop bickering? Sasori too joined him, his expression rigid. He had noticed how his cousin had admired Deidara and he didn't exactly like it.

"Deidara, Sakura", he spoke softly, though the authority behind his voice was unmistakable. The duo turned to him, irritated that their bickering session had been interrupted.

"What, yeah?" Deidara asked impatiently while Sakura raised a delicate pink eyebrow at her cousin, who for some reason unfathomable to her, was looking extremely irked.

"We didn't come here to bicker", Sasori responded and took off in the direction of the lawn. Deidara and Sakura looked at each other in puzzlement, their fight forgotten for the moment. What had gotten in Sasori all of a sudden?

"Who pissed in his beer, yeah?" Deidara asked and Sakura giggled while Itachi still watched the two in amusement. So they hadn't realized it yet, had they? Well, the time would come soon.

"Let's go Deidara, Sakura-san", Itachi said serenely and the trio made their way to the lawn where Sasori was talking to Naruto, the latter looking extremely excited about something.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called cheerfully as soon as she was within his sight. "Your cousin is awesome!" he was holding what appeared to be many slips of papers and Sakura wondered what could be so great about them. Ino, Neji, Tenten and Hinata were crowded around Naruto. They too seemed to be excited over whatever Sasori had given Naruto.

With a curious glance at her cousin, who was now smirking in triumph, Sakura, Deidara and Itachi made their way towards Naruto.

"Oh. My. God", Sakura said softly as she caught sight of what Naruto was mooning over.

"I know? Awesome, right?" Naruto said, his blue eyes gleaming.

The slips of paper were tickets to a Green Day concert but what caught Sakura's eye the most of the green and black slip of paper where the words:

"Guest appearance by Krist Novoselic, the former bassist of Nirvana and the rising rockers, Akatsuki".

A low whistle escaped Sakura. So Akatsuki were so good that they were even noticed by Green Day? That was cool.

"Seriously, how on earth did you get this?" Tenten asked Sasori in wonder.

The redhead's smirk disappeared and was replaced by a dead serious expression. He turned to Sakura, silently communicating with her. Deidara and Itachi understood what he was about to do and gave their silent approval. Sakura's friends could be trusted.

"We are Akatsuki", Sasori deadpanned. Itachi seconded it calmly.

"Well, us and Hidan, yeah. He couldn't make it today", Deidara added.

Hinata and Tenten's eyes popped comically. And then, Tenten laughed. "You cannot be serious".

She quieted when Neji shot her a serious look. "It's true", he said.

Tenten sputtered. "TMI", she said and took a few deep breaths before calming down.

She and Hinata eyed the three older teens, now nervous. How were you suddenly supposed to communicate with people who you thought were normal but then turned out to be the people you've always admired? But when Itachi shot them a gentle smile, they immediately fell at ease. Unlike Sasuke, the elder Uchiha brother had the ability to put people completely at ease whereas his brother made them nervous.

"You knew?" Tenten asked Sakura, not in accusation but in plain curiosity.

"Yeah", Sakura replied. "Sasuke, Naruto, Neji and I all knew. Sorry, we couldn't tell it to you earlier", she apologized.

Before Hinata and Tenten had the chance to reassure her that it was fine, Sasuke himself appeared, arms crossed and expression hard.

Eyeing the Akatsuki disapprovingly, or more appropriately his brother, he scowled.

"What are you doing here?" his tone was like ice. Sasori frowned slightly and his words and Deidara bristled but Itachi remained calm. He knew that Sasuke's animosity was directed specifically at him.

"I invited him", Naruto spoke, oblivious to Sasuke's bad mood. "Look what Sakura's cousin has got us Sasuke", he waved the tickets but Sasuke ignored him, his eyes locked on Itachi. "I thought you only invited _them_", he said, inclining his head at Deidara and Sasori, much to their annoyance.

Deidara scowled. He had had enough of this kid and his stupid "holier than thou" attitude. He stepped closer to the young Uchiha.

"You got a problem with us being here, yeah?" he asked stonily.

Sasuke's scowl deepened. "As a matter of fact, I do", he said. The others watched in alarm. This could get ugly.

"Sasuke, Deidara, cut it out", Sakura spoke but the two angry teens ignored her.

"My problem doesn't concern you. It concerns _him_", Sasuke spat, his eyes indicating Itachi who watched with a frown on his face.

"By messing with Itachi, you mess with all of us, yeah", Deidara said, his blue eyes narrowing. Sasori stepped up next to him. "Let it go Deidara", he spoke slowly, trying to reign in his own anger. Deidara ignored him and continued glaring at Sasuke.

"Move", Sasuke commanded Deidara and Sasori, who were blocking his path to Itachi.

Deidara snapped. That had been the last straw. With a yell, he pounced on Sasuke. The others stood there, as if frozen.

"You are too fucking arrogant for your own good, yeah", Deidara snarled as he punched Sasuke straight in the face, a maniacal glint in his blue eyes.

Sasuke took the blow, too stunned to retaliate. Sakura and the girls panicked while the guys tried to intervene.

As Deidara moved in to punch Sasuke again, Sasori grabbed him from behind while Naruto and Neji went to Sasuke, who was still down.

"Calm it Deidara", Sasori spoke grimly as the infuriated blonde struggled in his hold, spitting hair out of his mouth. Itachi had gone to Sasuke, who glared at the older Uchiha.

"Sasuke, it's understandable that you hate me but do not take that out on other people", Itachi spoke in a low tone. Sakura watched in nervousness. It was the first time she had heard Itachi speaking in such a tone. He seemed like he was sad that Sasuke despised him but accepted it at the same time. Sasuke watched him, his onyx eyes filled with loathing

With that, Itachi turned to Deidara with an apologetic look on his face. Sasori had determined that Deidara had calmed down enough and had relinquished his hold on him but the blonde still looked annoyed.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that Deidara", Itachi said.

"No problem. I'll beat him up again happily if the situation calls for it, yeah", Deidara spat out and Sasori shook his head.

Itachi smiled in a sad way. "I suppose I should leave. Happy Birthday Naruto-kun", he said and left the Uzumaki household. They could hear a car engine rev and then he was gone.

By now, many of the kids had gathered around the scene, hearing the commotion.

"Did you see that? That new guy punched Uchiha Sasuke", they were whispering.

"I know, it was awesome"

When Sasuke had finally stood up, his eye sporting a black bruise, he glared at the kids who immediately scattered.

This seemed to bring Sakura to her senses and she approached the boys with a scowl. For a minute, Deidara thought she was going to yell at him for hitting the Uchiha kid but then watched in surprise as she walked straight up to Sasuke and jabbed him in the chest, making the boys' glare deepen.

"What the hell was that about?" she asked furiously.

Sasuke remained silent, though his dark eyes spoke volumes. Didn't she understand?

"He's your brother for God's sake; can't you at least be civil? And he didn't even do anything to you!" Sakura went off indignantly. She and Itachi were not the closest of people but Itachi was kind and polite and he had done nothing to Sasuke, as far as she knew.

"You don't understand do you?" Sasuke's patience was at its limit now. "None of you understand so don't fucking act like you do!" he bellowed and Sakura stared at him, her green eyes hurt and confused. And then, to her surprise, catching on her hurt expression, Sasuke smirked.

"You're annoying", he said, in a much calmer tone this time, and he too walked off, hands in his pockets, leaving Sakura to gape.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Ino approached her nervously, worried for her friend. It was unusual of Sasuke to get so mad at her, ever.

"Yeah, fine", Sakura spoke softly after a few seconds of silence. The others watched in concern, even Deidara was worried for her. That little Uchiha ass had been too hard on her; even he could see that.

He watched in silence as she walked to him, lips smiling but eyes sad. "Saso-kun, do you think you could give me a ride home?" she asked faintly. Sasori looked at her worriedly. "I'm sorry Sakura, I came with Itachi and since he's gone…" he trailed off apologetically.

Sakura's smiled dropped a little, just a little, but Deidara saw it. "That's fine, I'll just walk", she said in a false cheery tone.

Then, surprising Sakura, Sasori and most especially himself, Deidara said," I'll take you, yeah".

Sakura's head whipped up to him in shock. Did he say what she just heard him say? "W-What?" she stuttered uncharacteristically.

"I said, I'll give you a ride, yeah", Deidara repeated with a small smirk. As perverse as it was, he thought she was even cuter when she was sad.

"Um, thanks I guess", Sakura said uncertainly. "I'll just get my stuff", with that, she disappeared into the house.

Sasori turned to Deidara suspiciously. "What are you trying to pull Deidara?" he asked in an accusatory tone.

Deidara rolled his eyes. "Relax. I'm just going to give her a ride, yeah. Besides, she'd probably freak and call the cops if I tried anything", he said indifferently

Sasori frowned at his best friend. It wasn't that he didn't trust him; he trusted Deidara with his life. It was just that the blonde could be impulsive sometimes and that, more often than not, got him into trouble.

"Alright", he gave in. "Just remember, I _**will**_ kill you if something happens to her".

"Yeah, yeah", Deidara dismissed his friend casually as Sakura returned, her feet donned in the pair of converse she had brought along in case of emergency and her messenger bag slung carelessly over her shoulder.

"Bye guys", Sakura waved half heartedly as she jumped onto Deidara's bike, which she would have gushed over in any other situation, as Deidara settled himself in front of her.

"Here, yeah. Sasori will kill me if he sees that you aren't wearing a helmet", he handed her a black helmet, which she fastened on over her hair.

"Hold tight, yeah", Deidara said as he started the engine and Sakura just had the time to latch her arms onto Deidara's waist before the blonde biker took off, a trail of dust behind him.

The ride was silent, with Sakura still holding on to Deidara's waist. She would have blushed but was too drained for that and to both of their surprise, laid her cheek against Deidara's back as he sped in the direction of her home, the only sound being the roaring of the bike.

A while later, Deidara brought the bike to a halt in front of Sakura's house.

"We're here, cherry, yeah", he said but there was no response from Sakura. Using his arms to balance the bike, Deidara angled his neck so that he was facing Sakura.

A smile, not a smirk nor his usual impish grin, graced Deidara's lips as he realized that she was sleeping soundly, head resting comfortably on his spine. Funny girl, she was, falling asleep with someone who she barely even knew.

If he was his usual self, which he wasn't, he would have jolted her awake but watching her sleeping face, Deidara didn't have the stomach to do it. Was he going soft?

Muttering incoherent words under his breath, he put out the stand of the bike. Keeping one hand on her shoulder, he hoisted himself off the bike and caught Sakura before she fell off.

She was extremely light, he noted as he held her close to his chest. Her breathing was soft and even and her expression was peaceful. Deidara, once again, found himself smiling against his will.

Lightly, he brushed her pink tresses off her face with his partially gloved fingers.

"Stupid cherry, yeah. Making me go soft".

* * *

Sorry about how short the chapter is, this just seemed like a good spot to end it XD. So, did you like it? Didn't like it? Please let me know through your reviews and suggestions are always appreciated. I updated fast since I've caught this nasty cold and didn't go to school (YAY!) So I was lounging around in my bed with my laptop all day. You'll seriously laugh if you see the state of my bed right now! Anyway, please review, even if the chapter sucked (which it probably did).

Love,

Alistair.


	7. Chapter Seven

To people who bother to read my ramblings: As usual, thanks to everyone who reviewed, your reviews keep me going! And my mom got me some meds (Yay, antibiotics to the rescue) and I am back on the scene dudes. So, without further ado, here is the seventh chapter of BOB. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Who'd want Karin and Sasuke anyway? But I do want Dei-Dei-chan, and Ita-kun and Saku-chan, and Hida-chan (lol that sounds weird) and Saso-kun and Tobi (the lovable idiot, not the uber-bastard he is now) and Naru-Naru and Shika-kun and Neji and Kiba-kun and Akamaru and more! And as much as I'd like to own Dean, I don't own Supernatural either.

Note to Unraveling Eudemonia: Sorry, I couldn't include Hidan in this chapter but he will definitely be there in the next one!

Chapter 07

Sakura sat up groggily in her bed, clutching her head with her hands; she had a mild headache.

In confusion, she glanced around her room. She didn't remember coming here at all. And then it all came crashing back to her; the party, Sasuke (she winced at that particular memory) and Deidara, astonishingly, bringing her back home.

"I wonder why he did that", she thought in bewilderment. Deidara wasn't exactly what you would call a nice guy. Actually, calling him a nice guy would be like calling Ino a tomboy. She pushed that thought aside. She had concerns that were more pressing now, case in point, Sasuke. Deidara's unexpected nicety could be pondered upon later.

The feeling of hurt from the night before came back to her and she flinched. Sasuke had been bizarrely cold towards her last night. She then remembered the look in Itachi's eyes and his tone when he had spoken to Sasuke. She wondered what had happened between them to make Sasuke hate his brother, who seemed every bit a good person, so much. Sasuke's smirk came into her mind and she actually shivered, clutching her comforter closer to herself. That smirk had been eerie and frigid and Sakura had no desire to be on the receiving end of it ever again.

With a sigh, she launched herself off her bed and reluctantly walked to her bathroom, dragging her feet behind her.

She still had to face Sasuke at school and not to mention at rehearsal, and it was a prospect that Sakura was not looking forward too.

"God help me", she muttered as got in the shower, the warm water doing nothing to soothe her anxiety. She would just have to grit her teeth and bear with it.

* * *

Sakura shuffled into the computer lab, IT with Anko being her first period that day and to her chagrin, she had it with Sasuke.

Sasuke's seat was right next to her in computer class, something to do with their names both starting with "SA" (the seating plan was according to alphabetical order). She sat down hesitantly and glanced at Sasuke, wanting to apologize for snapping at him the other night but the Uchiha ignored her. He didn't even look her way once and his eyes were glued to his screen, his usual indifferent look marring his handsome features.

With another self-pitying sigh, Sakura turned back to her own screen and began to type out the HTML codes Anko had given them. Seriously, sometimes Anko treated them as if they were kids.

"But I guess I have better things to worry about than Anko treating us like kids", Sakura thought despondently as she allowed herself a surreptitious glance of Sasuke. The raven haired teen was still concentrating on his work. He hadn't spoken to her once.

Gathering her courage, she turned to him. It wouldn't do to chicken out. She was Haruno Sakura and she never, ever chickened out.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry I yelled at you. It was stupid of me since I didn't actually understand the situation. So, once again, I am sorry", she spoke slowly, tentatively. The Uchiha barely looked at her. Instead, focusing on his computer screen, he spoke in a mordant tone.

"You're still annoying".

This ignoring act of Sasuke's continued until the end of their last period. By then, all of the guilt Sakura had been feeling were gone, not a trace to be left. No, now she was angry. Angry that Sasuke was the one ignoring her. She should have been the one doing the snubbing. Sure, she was the one who had yelled at him first but she had apologized, sincerely at that, but the jerk had just disregarded her.

It was Kakashi's period and being the awesome person he was, he had declared the rest of the period free and disappeared out of the class, probably to read his perverted book.

Her petite body shaking with adrenaline, Sakura walked over to Sasuke's table. Unlike the rest of the classes, the English class had long rows of tables instead of individual ones for each student. The one Sakura walked to was currently occupied by Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata. The rest of the students watched in fear as she approached the Uchiha's seat with a murderous aura around her. Think of a happy place, children. Think of a happy place.

She walked straight up to Sasuke but he continued reading his book, as if she wasn't there at all. "Well, I'll _**make**_ him see me", Sakura thought wrathfully and slammed her hands down on the table. Her friends gasped and Naruto almost fell over on Hinata, whom he had been talking with but Sasuke merely glanced at her, apathy in his dark grey eyes.

"What?" he asked silkily, making Sakura want to bash him one on the head for being such a smart ass.

"I'll tell you what, Uchiha. _You_ have been _ignoring_ me this whole frigging day and I want to know _why_" she was practically bursting now.

Sasuke simply raised an inky eyebrow at her.

"Haven't I already made it clear that it is because _you_ are _annoying_?" he spoke cuttingly and Sakura's viridian eyes narrowed dangerously. Naruto and Hinata watched in disquiet. Sakura and Sasuke never fought. They bickered, yes, but they never fought like this.

"Seriously, I am _sick_ of hearing that word coming out of your mouth every second. Haven't you _any_ other adjective in your brain? I'd like to tell you exactly _who_ here is annoying. _You_ are. I flipping _apologized_ to you but you just _sat_ there like a complete _bastard_. I'd call that _annoying_", Sakura accused, all in one breath.

Now it was Sasuke's turn to narrow his eyes. He stood up, put his book into his bag, slung it over his shoulder and with one last icy glare at Sakura, walked away from the classroom.

Sakura glared callously at his retreating back.

"Drama queen".

* * *

Naruto played on his drum set extremely awkwardly. They were rehearsing at Sasuke's place and the tension between him and Sakura was so freaking thick that it could be cut with a blunt butter knife.

The two teens glared at each other at every chance they got and it was all Naruto could do to keep himself from yelling out in frustration. Even Neji was at the point of bursting but he contained himself, being the stoic person he was.

It was the last straw for the uncomfortable blonde when Sasuke's mood got so worse and he poured so much antagonism into the lyrics that he actually slurred over them, making the words practically unintelligible.

Naruto stopped drumming and dropped his drum sticks onto the floor, the clanging sound echoing all over the garage.

"Would you two stop acting like kids and just freaking apologize?" he burst out, unable to contain himself anymore. The other three stopped playing and all stared at him, Neji with an exasperated though relieved face, Sakura and Sasuke with terrifyingly indistinguishable scowls on their faces, but Naruto didn't back down.

"You call me the idiot but anyone could tell now, looking at how stupid you two are being, who the idiots were, so seriously, would you two stop with the whole pride issue and go back to being friends so we could just rehearse already", the blonde finished, a determined look on his usually humorous face.

Sasuke and Sakura's glares didn't diminish; instead, they worsened though now, they were directed at each other and not Naruto. Neji looked at the blonde in surprise. It was the first time he had heard Naruto sounding so mature and it was a refreshing change but neither Sakura nor Sasuke looked like they would reconcile.

"Argh", Naruto raised his arms in silent pleading and jumped off his seat.

"That's it. Rehearsal is done for today, I'm leaving", the frustrated blonde cried, grabbed his bag and made way to the garage door. Before going outside, he turned to Neji with a raised eyebrow.

"You coming?" he asked expectantly.

With a sigh, Neji thrust his bass guitar into its case, slung it over his shoulder and walked over to stand with Naruto. The door opened by itself and Sakura and Sasuke watched with disbelief etched on their faces as the two teens left the garage, Neji with a polite goodbye and Naruto, for once in his life, saying nothing.

Sakura stared after the two teens in astonishment. She had never heard Naruto sounding so grown up before and now that she thought about it, he was right. They were being incredibly childish and it was not only affecting them, but Naruto and Neji too, not to mention their performance as a band, she could see it now and it embarrassed her.

In silence, she removed her guitar from around her neck and placed it back in its case.

Then, unexpectedly, Sasuke spoke to her.

"They're right", he said, so quietly that Sakura wouldn't have heard if she hadn't been paying attention. With a shamed look, she turned to him and mumbled her agreement.

"This is so humiliating", she thought.

"So", she dragged out in the tension-thick silence. Sasuke just looked at her objectively. She groaned internally. Did he have to make this harder for her than it already was?

Taking a deep breath and painfully casting her pride aside, she spoke.

"I'm sorry, okay? If you can't accept that, well, I don't know but you should know that I am sorry", she said through painstakingly gritted teeth.

At first, Sasuke simply stared her and it was all Sakura could do to keep herself from lashing out at him. Couldn't he just accept her apology and get it over with already? Or did her want her to beg on her knees? She wasn't even the one that needed to apologize.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was mulling over on whether to forgive her. He hadn't actually meant to snap at her like that the night before; it had just escaped him since he was enraged that Itachi of all people was there. The blonde and Sakura's cousin, he could deal with, but his brother was another story. But Sakura… Well, she was important to him and he couldn't risk losing her over his brother. So, he decided to swallow his pride and just get it done with.

Just when her patience was running thin and she was contemplating storming out of the garage, Sasuke spoke softly.

"I'm sorry too", she knew how hard it was for him to apologize and so, didn't give him any grief about it.

A relieved grin graced her lips and she turned back to Sasuke, her pink locks flying prettily around her. To her surprise, he was actually red in the face!

Yes, Uchiha Sasuke was blushing. And he was not proud of it.

"Damn Sakura", he thought, half-irritably and half-relieved.

She always knew how to get her way.

* * *

Sasori parked in the driveway of the apartment he and Deidara shared and exited his car, carrying a few bags of groceries and whatnot they would need for the time being. Balancing the bags on one hand, he used the other to open the door of the apartment.

If he were any other person, Sasori would have been surprised at the scene that greeted him in the lounge of the apartment. But since he was Sasori, he just proceeded to calmly set the groceries on the kitchen table and walked to the living room where Deidara was working on one of his 'projects'.

"Deidara", he spoke mellifluously.

The blonde didn't even seem to hear him. He was busy using a small mason's spade to shape his clay sculpture. Sasori could faintly distinguish the form of a bird as Deidara went on molding his newest creation. He was the very picture of concentration; expression tight and blue eyes determined, sitting on the carpeted floor with his creation, clay smearing his whole body.

"Deidara", Sasori spoke again, this time a little louder but the blonde still didn't notice him. Instead, he stopped his molding, observed the bird with the keen eye of an artist and then, as if deeming the creation unsatisfactory, erased a bit of it and started again.

"Deidara!" Sasori's left eyebrow twitched and finally, the blonde glanced up, slanted blue eyes irritated.

"What, yeah?" Deidara glared, accidently messing up one of the wings of his birds. Great, now he had to start over.

"Happy, yeah?" he was irritated but Sasori took no note of it. He had dealt with Deidara when he was in worse moods.

"It's your turn to prepare dinner", Sasori said with a smirk and Deidara's irritation worsened. Had he disturbed him just for that?

"Oh, and make it a large one, the others are coming over at eight for rehearsal", Sasori added smugly as Deidara grudgingly stood up and headed towards the kitchen.

Muttering curse words under his breath, Deidara grabbed pots and pans off the cupboards. What the hell was Sasori thinking, leaving all of this to him? The only things he could make were scrambled eggs and toast. Over the din he was making with the cooking utensils, he heard Sasori saying that he had an appointment and the front door slamming shut.

Sasori, that bastard. He had done this on purpose. He knew that Deidara couldn't cook to save his life. It was five o'clock now. How the heck was he supposed to make such a large dinner in such a small window of time? Knowing Hidan's appetite, the food would be gone before he could say "cherry".

Wait… That was it! She was a girl; she'd know how to handle this.

Hoping to God that it would work, he dialed Sakura's number.

"_Pick up, cherry yeah"_

* * *

Sakura munched cheerfully on her fries as she watched a re-run of Supernatural. Her mom was at work and the whole house was hers for the day and with the added bonus of reconciling with Sasuke, she felt awesome.

"Bitch", Dean was saying on the TV. Ah, how she loved Dean.

"What're you calling me a bitch for?" Sam looks at Dean in perplexity.

"You're supposed to say jerk", Dean retorts as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?" Sam asks in surprise.

"Never mind".

Sakura continued blissfully watching her favorite TV show until her phone rang. "Pink" by Aerosmith was playing and Sakura wondered what Deidara could want from her at a time like this.

"Hey~ Dei-Dei, what's up?" she answered in a nauseatingly buoyant tone.

Deidara's electric tone of voice was heard from the other line. "Quit being so freaking bubbly, yeah", he grumbled an she could almost feel him rolling those stunning though slightly slanted aqua eyes of his.

Rolling _her_ eyes, she retorted. "You quit being so touchy, _yeah_", she imitated his intense voice. Deidara barely stopped himself from snapping at her. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he needed her, her reminded himself.

"Look cherry, yeah. I need your help", it took every ounce of energy he had in his nerves to get those simple, though extremely meaningful words across to her. For a few minutes, the other line was silent and Deidara wondered whether she had fainted from shock. It wouldn't be that much of a surprise.

"Oy, you there, yeah?" he questioned. Maybe he should just order some take-out or something.

"Let me get this straight. _You_ need _my_ help?" she echoed disbelievingly. Since when did Deidara-the-arrogant-he-she need her help?

Deidara smirked, even though he was embarrassed. "I seem to recall _someone_ giving you a ride last night, yeah. You owe me, cherry".

Sakura groaned and mumbled something along the lines of "I knew that accepting his offer would be a bad idea" and Deidara grinned.

"Fine, but just because I don't like owing people okay?" she acquiesced at last and could have sworn she could see Deidara's smirk through the phone.

"Whatever you say cherry, yeah. The apartment in five."

* * *

Deidara cursed internally. Bringing cherry here had been a huge, huge mistake.

Watching her struggle with the pork, he understood that she was an even worse cook than he was.

"You suck at cooking, yeah", he deadpanned as Sakura almost knocked the pan with the rice off of the counter. The pink haired teen glared at him.

"You're one to talk", she rejoined, eyeing the sauce he was trying to make. It was a sickening green colored gunk.

It was a huge understatement to say that when Deidara had asked her for a favor, she hadn't envisioned herself cooking dinner for one of the most successful teen bands in the country, alongside with its extremely handsome vocalist in his and her cousin's apartment. And to say that Deidara didn't look hot, even with flour and something else she couldn't identify all over his body, would be the biggest lie she would ever utter.

"Okay", he grunted, having had enough of this horse play. "So this is obviously not working, so what do you propose we do, yeah?" he asked, using a ladle to scoop up some of the sauce he had been making only to see a vile goop of some kind.

"Take-out?" Sakura suggested helplessly. She too had had enough.

Deidara shook his head thoughtfully. "Sasori would know, yeah", was all he said in answer to her suggestion.

"Then what do you propose we do?"

Just then, something exploded deafeningly and Sakura shrieked and latched herself onto the nearest object to her, which, needless to say, was Deidara.

Deidara's strong arms came around her in reflex and she blushed. What was it with her and Deidara holding onto each other every time they met? A white haze surrounded them, making them both cough and then, finally, they let go of each other, Sakura blushing as pink as her hair and Deidara with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

"Can't get enough of me, can you, yeah?" and Sakura blushed scarlet. The egoistic bastard. She glared at him through coughs, though he couldn't see it because of the smoke.

In course of time, the smoke cleared to show that they had used the wrong kind of pan for the rice and it had exploded because of not being able to handle the heat. The walls were splattered with bits of rice as were the floor, Sakura, and Deidara themselves.

"Sasori's going to kill us", was what Sakura said.

Deidara glowered, shaking out bits of rice from his hair. "It's my apartment, yeah", he said smugly but his grin faded when he took in the state of the kitchen. _He_ would have to clean this up later.

"So, take-out?" Sakura put forward weakly.

"Take-out, yeah"

* * *

So, how was it? Please review and let me know!

Oh and there's a very important note on my profile, please check it out. And if you have any suggestions, please don't hesitate to run them by me. That being said, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Love,

Alistair.


	8. Chapter Eight

Oh God, I'm sorry for not updating in so long. It's just that I had stomach flu for a while and then an annoying writer's block. I'm sorry again but it's finally it's time for dinner with our favorite mass murderers and Saku-Saku is along for the ride, yo! Read and enjoy! Oh and review please, with cherries on top.

Disclaimer: This is getting old, seriously. I don't anything Naruto related or any of the songs in this chapter or any of the TV series'.

Chapter 08

Wiping the last smudge of rice from the kitchen floor, Sakura surveyed her work with a proud smile. Sasori would never know that the incident with the rice had ever happened. Thank God, she was loads better at cleaning than she was at cooking.

The pots and pans were gleaming and she could see herself reflected from all the utensils. The walls and the floor of the kitchen were spotless, not to mention all the evidence of her and Deidara's blunders with the sauce and the rice were all gone.

Speaking of Deidara, the blonde was currently out on the prowl for a decent restaurant open since the only take-out spot that was available in their area was Indian and they were sure that none of the Akatsuki would be satisfied with eating chapattis with dhal curry for dinner. So, in conclusion, the apartment was left for Sakura to care for until he or the rest of the gang came back.

"What is there to do around here?" Sakura thought with a yawn as she popped open a can of Pepsi she had scored courtesy of Deidara's refrigerator. It was the last one left and Sakura smiled to herself at how Deidara would scowl and rage when he would find out that he had run out of Pepsi.

The drink in her hand, she walked over to the lounge and flopped down on the worn out though comfortable couch with a sigh, wondering how long it would take Deidara to return with the food. It was late and she was getting hungry herself.

"I suppose I should call mom and tell her that I won't be coming home until late", she thought and dug out her phone from her pocket, dialing her mother's number.

"Hello?" her mother's soft voice reached her ears.

"Hey mom, just calling to say that I'm at a friend's place and won't be coming home until late", Sakura explained.

A pause. "Are you staying over with that cute boy that delivered our pizza that day?" Sakura froze. How the hell was her mother so freaking perceptive?

"Of course not mom! Where'd you get that idea from?" she lied indignantly. "I'm having dinner with Saso-kun", she continued in a calmer tone and could almost feel her mother smiling knowingly from the other line. Damn her for being such a bad liar.

"Whatever you say dear. Just get back before it gets too late, okay?" Mrs. Haruno said and Sakura agreed before hanging up.

She turned on the television and tuned into a channel that actually played some decent music. "Are we the waiting" by Green Day was playing and Sakura turned up the volume high and lounged back on the couch lazily, her stomach growling faintly.

A good while later, another yawn escaped her. Where the hell was Deidara when you needed him? Then, as if answering her silent question, the roar of a motorbike engine was heard over the din of the music and the front door opened, revealing a weary looking Deidara holding up bags of food.

With a cry of relief, Sakura jumped up from the couch and grabbed the food from him.

"It's about time", she stated and Deidara glared at her, kicking the door shut behind him.

"Shut up, yeah. You're not the one who had to drive around in the rain for a fucking hour looking for food", he snapped and it was then that Sakura realized that the blonde was soaking wet. She hadn't even noticed that it had been raining because of how loud she had turned on the music.

"Damn, you're all wet". She giggled softly at his appearance. His blonde hair was sticking to his face and his tank was drenched through, giving Sakura a decent view of his lean body. He was just right, not too thin and not too bulky, she hated guys who had too well developed muscles; they looked like rhinoceros'.

Deidara raised a blonde eyebrow at her. If he wasn't mistaken, she was checking him out. His arrogance reappeared despite the fact that he was cold and soaking wet. Cherry was actually checking him out.

"Like what you see, yeah?"

Sakura blushed beet red. What the hell was up with her, checking him out like that? Face red, she struggled to come up with a smart ass response.

"N-No, I was just comparing your appearance to that of a wet dog", she managed to dish out at the last second and Deidara smirked. She wasn't fooling anyone.

"Anyways", Sakura cleared her throat, the red refusing to leave her cheeks. "You should go take a shower, you stink", she said, regaining some of her usual attitude. It wouldn't do to lower her guard around Deidara.

Instead of blowing up at her like she had expected, Deidara's smirk only grew wider as he stepped closer to her. Sakura gulped and took a step back but he just kept on inching closer to her.

"You don't like my smell, yeah?" he whispered softly. Sakura's cheeks reddened even more. He was now mere centimeters away from her nose, water droplets dripping from his hair onto her face.

"N-No", Sakura lied shakily. He did smell nice. He smelt like vanilla and the other thing she couldn't identify. Deidara, meanwhile, continued coming closer to her, their noses were almost touching now. Sakura inhaled his sweet vanilla scent in through her nose. She loved that smell. Why did he have this effect on her?

Deidara's gorgeous blue eyes captured her large emerald ones. They were a color that no artist could possibly imitate on paper, he thought in wonder. They were striking, in a league of their own. They spoke volumes on their own, like now. Now, different emotions were playing through those orbs. Surprise, longing, even fear. They blinked up at him; their lashes were tangled at the corners, like exquisite spider webs. Her eyes… were mesmerizing.

Suddenly, Deidara frowned slightly. What the hell was he thinking, like some kind of fucking pansy? Admiring Haruno Sakura, his best friend's little cousin? He was definitely out of it today. It was probably because he had a fever from staying out in the rain.

Sakura snapped back into reality and blinked up at Deidara, who was looking just as bewildered as she was. What had happened before? She didn't know but whatever it was, it was probably not such a big deal, she concluded and shook away her thoughts. Deidara definitely hadn't been admiring her and she sure as hell hadn't been checking him out. It was absurd. End of story.

Bringing her free hand in front of his face, (the other was still clutching the food) she snapped her fingers. With a start, Deidara blinked down at her, confusion clouding his normally overconfident face. What had happened just now? He looked at Sakura who was now smirking triumphantly at him.

"Like what _you_ see?" she teased. Deidara answered with a scowl. "I'm taking a shower, yeah", he said before disappearing.

As soon as Deidara left, the smirk on Sakura's face disappeared. Phew, it had been hard to act confident in front of him. Why did it have to be him that she had ogled? Why not Sasuke or even Naruto? Why'd it have to be Deidara of all people? Could it be she actually liked him?

"Sakura, what the hell? It was just a mistake", she scolded herself for even thinking that. She did _not_ have a crush on Deidara.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Deidara too was trying to reassure himself. Of course he didn't like cherry. He just liked to mess with her and her, him and that was it, or was it...

When Deidara walked into the kitchen, Sakura had resolved to act normal around him. Of course, it was extremely hard to act normal when she saw him, fresh out of the bath dressed in a crisp black T shirt and a torn and faded pair of jeans, his hair blow dried and left to fall over his shoulders. But Sakura was known for her determination or more likely, stubbornness and she tried her best to act normal.

"You're finally here", she said, pretending to be world weary of him.

"I swear, not even Ino takes that much to get ready".

Deidara smirked appreciatively. She was teasing him. Teasing he knew how to deal with. He was glad that they were back in stable grounds.

"It takes time and hard work to achieve this level of awesomeness cherry, yeah", he grinned, gesturing to himself.

Sakura rolled her eyes as she served herself some of the Chinese noodles he had brought. As long as his narcissism was still intact, it wouldn't be that hard to deal with him. She watched as he poured a huge helping of oyster sauce onto his plate of noodles. The guy seemed to eat a lot. She doubted that there'd be enough for the others when he was done.

"Oi, Deidara", she said as they proceeded to the couch with their food.

"When are the others coming?"

Deidara shrugged noncommittally and glanced at his watch. It was quarter past seven.

"Should be here soon, yeah", he said from in between slurping noodles.

Feeling bored, Sakura grabbed the remote and turned the TV on, flipping the channels idly to see if something interesting was on.

"Keep that on, yeah", Deidara interrupted her browsing and Sakura glanced briefly at him before turning to the channel he wanted. It was a show called 'Breaking Bad' and she frowned. She hadn't heard of it.

"What's it about?" she asked and Deidara turned to her incredulously.

"You've never watched Breaking Bad, yeah?" he asked slowly. Sakura shook her head, pink locks bobbing and Deidara continued staring at her like she was mad.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked huffily.

"You, cherry, are seriously unenlightened, yeah". Sakura pouted. How dare he call her unenlightened?

Deidara grinned at her expression. Cute, he thought absentmindedly.

"This is one of the best TV shows ever made, yeah", he explained. "Watch"

And Sakura did. And she loved it. The show was about two guys who cooked. As in, drugs. And about the older guy Walter's family dilemma's and how the duo evaded the law enforcement agencies. Not to mention, the younger guy Jesse was awesome with his stupid humor and yearning to prove himself.

Deidara watched in amusement as the pink haired teen absorbed the whole thing in attentively, nodding her head in agreement at some points, smacking her forehead when the characters did something stupid, biting her nails when they were in trouble and rejoicing when they successfully overcame them. She sure was something.

"This shit is awesome", she squealed and Deidara smirked.

"Told you so, yeah".

They watched until they show ended and until Deidara's plate was empty and stomach half full.

"Cherry, got some more food, yeah?" he asked and Sakura rolled her eyes at him.

"At the rate you eat, there'll be no more food for the others". Deidara's shoulders slumped in disappointed.

"But I'm hungry, yeah", he almost whined, keyword almost. He still had his pride.

Sakura giggled at him. He was so weird. An overconfident bad ass once and a cute whiny kid the next. In her moment of amusement, she hardly noticed that she had described Deidara as 'cute' and 'a badass'.

"Fine, take mine but don't blame me if you get fat", she said with a twinkle in her eyes and handed him her own bowl, which still had some noodles.

He grabbed it without any thanks, not that she was expecting it. He was Deidara. He didn't thank people.

Sakura watched as he scarfed down the food. At the rate he was going, he would probably eat the fork and the bowl next. Then, she noticed that he wasn't wearing gloves around her for the first time. The hand that gripped the fork was big and had long fingers. The inside of his palm was engraved with a design of some kind; she couldn't quite see it from her position.

"Hey, Dei-Dei", she called. Deidara finished the last bite and glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, taking in that it was the first time she had called her that after the phone call.

"What's that on your hand?" she asked apprehensively. What if it was something he didn't like to talk about?

Deidara stretched out his palm absent mindedly.

"This, yeah?" he asked, revealing an elaborate tattoo of an open mouth with its tongue smiling at her. Sakura glanced at it in wonder. It was something.

"That's cool" she breathed and Deidara smirked. She had just complimented him unknowingly. Setting aside the bowl and fork, he stretched out his other hand towards her. They were facing each other on the couch, both sitting cross legged.

Sakura looked at his left hand. It had the same tattoo as the first, thought there was something different about it. Not very noticeably, but still different.

"They're both done by different people right?" she asked and Deidara grinned at her perceptiveness.

"I did that one. This one was done by Sasori, yeah".

"Sasori" Sakura stated curiously. She hadn't known Sasori had a taste for the arts. Well, add that to the list that she didn't know about her cousin.

Deidara regarded her with his blue eyes. She sure didn't know a lot of things about her cousin. They seemed close though… His ponderings on his best friend and his anomaly of a cousin were brought to an end however, by the question said anomaly uttered.

"This is going to sound weird, but do you think I could touch them?" she started out with a hint of shyness but then became confident towards the end. Deidara blinked. It wasn't that he had anything against her examining his tattoos. It was just that she was so forward. Not like many other girls. The word anomaly was right.

"Sure, yeah", he agreed and Sakura brightened.

Her fingers quivering slightly, she grazed the top of Deidara's palm. Her touch was cold. He had to bite back a hiss but Sakura noticed and jerked back her fingers with a blush.

"Damn, sorry. It's just that my hands are cold…" she trailed off.

"Nah, its fine, go ahead yeah", Deidara said. Something told him that his reaction was not because of the coldness of her touch, but as usual, he ignored that part of him.

"Okay then", Sakura said and after blowing on her fingers to warm them, again brought them in contact with Deidara's palm. They were warm this time.

With a wondrous expression, she traced the tongue lightly. A shiver ran up Deidara's spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

She was about to touch the other palm when unexpectedly, the door burst open and a grey haired figure burst in. Sakura and Deidara jumped violently, the latter cussing.

"Where's my fucking food?" the intruder was Hidan, with his guitar strapped across his back.

"Hidan you fucking moron, haven't you heard of knocking?" Deidara glowered, immediately leaving the couch.

Ignoring him, Hidan turned to Sakura, who was still on the couch, a blush on her face. He glared at her. He seemed to have regained his gall from after their last encounter.

"Oh, I'm fucking sorry, was I intruding on your little moment? Well, I don't fucking give a shit. I'm hungry so you can go fuck yourself!" he ranted before plopping down on a chair and practically inhaling down noodles.

He was soon joined by Itachi and Sasori, the latter shooting Deidara a death glare before lowering himself onto a chair at the dining table. He had heard Hidan's remark and though he hadn't seen it, knew that Deidara and Sakura had been ahem, _involved_ in something before they had come in.

Itachi smiled briefly at Sakura before taking a seat and serving himself some food. As soon as she caught his eye, the events on the night of the party came back to her.

"I wonder what's going on between him and Sasuke", she wondered. "It'll sound rude, but I have to ask Itachi later", she decided. The older Uchiha seemed much more placid than Sasuke and would probably not blow up at her if she asked him about it.

"Deidara, mind clearing up the drawing room for rehearsal?" Sasori stated more than asked.

The blonde scowled at his demanding tone. "Do it yourself, yeah", he growled back. He hated being ordered around.

Sasori returned Deidara's scowl with equal force. "The clay is your mess", he said.

For the first time Sakura noticed something sitting on the ground next to the couch. It was a clay statue of a bird or something. Her mind drifted back to the day at the mall when Deidara had told her that he sculpted.

"So that's what he smells like, clay", she thought in awe. The bird was only half done, bits, pieces left out, and some to be remodeled.

Shooting another scowl at Sasori, Deidara lifted his bird with surprising care and carried it back to his room. By the time he returned, the others were finishing up the last of their meals. Deidara's stomach growled. Even after eating some of Sakura's share, his appetite still wasn't satisfied. Then, his blue eye caught sight of a final piece of wrapped chicken on a dish on the table. Score.

But, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hidan eyeing _his_ chicken. Well, he wasn't going to go down with a fight.

The gray haired teen saw Deidara lunging over to get _his_ piece of chicken. With a roar, he flung himself over the table. "Oh no you fucking don't!"

Sakura, Sasori and Itachi watched in surprise as the two teens battled over the last piece of chicken with maniacal glints in their eyes.

"Oh fuck", Deidara and Hidan cursed in unison. The chicken had been knocked over on to the carpet during their struggle. It was lying innocently near Sakura's legs, the pink haired teen blinking at it. Deidara and Hidan eyed each other, a thin line of electricity passing between them.

"Oh crap", Sakura muttered as the two large teens lunged in her direction with identical battle cries. She was grabbed by Sasori and moved out of the way at the last minute as the two teens crashed on the ground.

"Score, yeah!" Deidara thought triumphantly as he reached for the chicken wing. Hidan's hand was mere millimeters behind his own. "Just a little fucking bit more", Hidan grunted but before either he or Deidara could make a move, it was grabbed by a black gloved hand.

Deidara and Hidan watched in horror as the wrapper fell to the ground.

Chomp. Chomp. Gulp. Smack.

"Ah, that was delicious".

"TOBI, YOU LITTLE COCKSUCKING PIECE OF SHIT (YEAH)!" Hidan and Deidara bellowed as they pounced on the newcomer.

"AH, SENPAIS TOBI IS SORRY! TOBI DIDN'T KNOW! TOBI WON'T DO IT AGAIN!" Tobi pleaded. Sakura recognized him as the friendly guy at the Akatsuki table. Poor kid, she thought as Deidara and Hidan ignored his pleas and went on pummeling the whimpering boy.

"What the flying fuck is this little shithead doing here?" Hidan growled a good while later. He was the first to calm down. The unfortunate Tobi was still being man handled by the enraged blonde. How dare he eat his frigging chicken?

Sasori shrugged in response. Tobi was notorious for showing up out of thin air when he was least expected. They just went with the flow. It was easier for everyone.

"Dei, give the guy a break", Sakura said, unable to watch the poor kid getting beaten up anymore.

To everyone's surprise, Deidara punched Tobi one more time and got up, his stunning blue eyes calmer than before. "Let's just rehearse, yeah", he said and disappeared back to his room, returning with his sleek black fender.

Soon, everyone was set up. The furniture of the drawing room was pushed carelessly to one corner. Sasori sat behind his drums, Itachi finished tuning his bass guitar, Hidan strummed a bit and Deidara was behind the mike, his guitar around his neck. Sakura was watching from the couch, which was the only piece of furniture still in place. Tobi, beaten black and blue, was next to her. She was treating his wounds while watching the guys set up. They needed to practice for their upcoming show, the one that Sasori had Naruto tickets to. It was in a week's time.

"Let's start with sunburn".

Deidara started with a quiet yet melodious guitar riff, the others joining in soon.

He loved every minute of it. The feel. He was the music. He was the moment. Everything was irrelevant then. It was only him and the music.

_The sky was dark this morning _

_Not a bird in the trees_

_The silence hung suspicious and anxious_

_Like a blanket covered scream_

The music was he and he was the music. This was what he lived for. This was what they all lived for.

_And you were gone_

_You were not there for me_

_And I cursed the sky and begged the sun to fall all over me_

_This life's not worth living baby_

_Living ain't free_

Sakura watched him. She could almost feel what he was feeling. He was the rhythm. He wasn't listening. He was feeling. And she loved it.

_All my friends are searching_

_Quiet, desperately_

_Look into their eyes and you'll see the faithless_

_Crying save me, save me, save me_

_What are they to feel?_

_And who are they to be?_

_What am I to do with, do with me?_

_Just let the sun fall over me_

His slanted blue eyes caught her large green ones. With that glance, he knew she knew what he felt. They were one and the same in that little moment.

And then, just like that, the song ended. The spell was broken. Their moment of interconnection was over.

Everything was the same once more.

* * *

So, there it is. Hope you liked the DeiSaku and that it wasn't too OOC. And thanks for the guest reviews! I hope you create an account so I can thank you personally. But on a different note, I won't be updating for a while because my exams are coming up and my mom wants me to study and get better grades than those I got the last semester so I won't be able to work on the story as much as I like :( Sorry! But I will try to update. Please review and let me know what you thought of the chapter. And the song used is 'Sunburn' by Fuel. It's an awesome song, listen if you can.

Love,

Alistair.


	9. Chapter Nine

Hey everyone! Because you guys are awesome, I squeezed in an update for you when I actually should be studying but no worries, I never study anyways :D Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Here's the ninth chapter of Battle of the Bands. Enjoy!

*Note to people who already read this chapter* I've changed the Porcupine Tree song Deidara sang into 'Black Hole sun' by Soundgarden.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the songs in this chapter. They belong to Soundgarden and Sloan.

Chapter 09

The group played many more songs but none caught Sakura's heart like Sunburn had. Or so she thought before they launched into another song.

She couldn't even describe how she felt like when Deidara was singing it. It was like her whole body was tingling and her heart was whole heartedly immersed in the song. And Deidara made it feel so… real and true. It was hard to put into words.

It was a cover of a song titled 'Black Hole Sun' by a grunge band called Soundgarden

_In my eyes,  
Indisposed,  
In disguise  
As no one knows.  
Hides the face,  
Lies the snake,  
And the sun  
In my disgrace. _

_The song Black hole sun, _  
_Won't you come _  
_And wash away the rain? _  
_Black hole sun, _  
_Won't you come? _  
_Won't you come? _  
_Won't you come?_

The song seemed appropriate with what the nostalgic mood the pelting rain outside gave them. Even Tobi seemed enthralled in the beautiful but bittersweet music as the teens of Akatsuki explored their passion for music.

Then, unexpectedly, the whole theme changed as they launched into an animated song, Sakura laughing as Hidan jumped up in the air and nearly hit his head on the ceiling.

_She was underwhelmed _  
_If that's a word _  
_I know it's not _  
_'Cause I looked it up _  
_That's one of those skills _  
_That I learned in my school _

Sakura rolled her eyes as Deidara winked at her suggestively as he played. The song was upbeat and fun and she liked the lyrics.

_She wrote out a story _  
_About her life _  
_I think it included _  
_Something about me _  
_I'm not sure of that _  
_But I'm sure of one thing _  
_Her spelling's atrocious _

The song was probably about a girl who was bad at English since it wasn't her native tongue, Sakura guessed. Then again, maybe it was inspired by Deidara's own speech impediment…

The lyrics were strange, fun and original and could be interpreted in different ways. "Just like him", she thought absent mindedly as she watched the blonde sing and play. His blue eyes were trained on her as he passionately launched into the solo. She had to ask him how he came up with ideas for these lyrics.

"Maybe Sasuke could get a few hints from him", she thought and then dismissed that thought quickly, remembering that his and Deidara's relationship wasn't actually close.

"That was underwhelmed, yeah", Deidara smirked as he finished the song, announcing its title like they were playing at a live concert and not in his apartment with an audience of a pink haired girl and a hyperactive boy who wore a mask.

"That's a wrap for today", Sasori spoke. His wrists hurt from drumming. People might think that drumming was the easiest thing in a band but his wrists begged to differ. Drumming was actually the hardest thing to do next to singing and playing guitar at the same time. Well, at least he had a chair to sit on unlike the others, especially Deidara, who jumped and pranced around like he was insane.

Hidan and Itachi said their goodbyes and left after clearing and gathering up their instruments. Sakura helped Sasori store away his drum set while Deidara collapsed down on the couch to watch TV.

Sakura glanced at her watch and blinked in surprise. It was nearing eleven. It was a wonder that her mother hadn't called her yet.

As if on cue, her phone rang. The caller ID was 'Mom'.

"Hey, Mom, don't worry I'm coming ba-", she started but was cut off by her mother.

"Sakura honey, look out the window", her mother sounded amused by something unknown to her.

Puzzled, Sakura walked to the window, phone held up to her ear, wondering what her mother wanted her to see.

"Oh", she said softly.

It was still pouring hard. She had forgotten that it had been raining. Oh well, Sasori would probably drive her home in his car.

"That's okay mom, Sasori can drive me home-", and she started but was cut off again, this time by her red headed cousin.

"Sorry Sakura, Hidan and Itachi took my car", he shrugged helplessly. What was she supposed to do? Walk home in the pouring rain?

Sasori, her mother and she were silent as they contemplated on how to handle the situation. Then, surprising the red and pink haired teens, Deidara spoke out.

"You could just stay here, yeah", he suggested casually. It wasn't like they didn't have room or anything.

Sasori and Sakura gaped at him, looking hilariously alike. Even Sakura's mom on the phone was silent.

"What?" Sasori spoke intelligently. Was Deidara actually suggesting that his cousin stay in his apartment for the night? He must be going deaf. Sakura just stared at Deidara in confusion, not willing to believe what she had heard. He actually expected her to stay here with them? Two boys? And she didn't even have any clothes or anything.

"I said she could stay here, yeah", Deidara repeated, now regretting that he had ever suggested it. Why couldn't he have just kept his big mouth shut? Suggesting that cherry stay here with them? Sasori must be thinking that he wanted to get lucky or something. Silence ensued in the lounge of Deidara's apartment, the owner contemplating on biting his tongue out.

"Sakura, let me speak to your cousin", Sakura's mother broke the silence, sensing that something was up.

"Mom wants to speak with you", Sakura broke out of her reverie and handed the phone to Sasori.

Aunt and nephew conversed in low tones for a few minutes while cousin and best friend watched in something akin to anticipation and nervousness.

Sasori bid his aunt goodbye and flipped Sakura's phone shut before handing it to her, his expression dead serious.

"It's settled, Sakura is staying here for the night", he deadpanned.

"What (yeah)?" both Sakura and Deidara called in unison. Sasori frowned at the two younger teens.

"You are the one who suggested it in the first place Deidara", he said to his best friend, who scowled immediately. Damn him and his stupid, massive and grotesquely disproportionate mouth.

"And yes, Sakura, you are staying here, end of story", Sasori concluded in a no nonsense tone. He himself didn't like the idea of his cousin staying over in his best friend's, -who by the way was a narcissistic playboy who in Sasori's opinion had an unhealthy interest in his cousin no matter how much he tried to deny it-, apartment but there was nothing to be done. At least he would be there to keep things in check (and to make sure Deidara kept his junk in his pants).

Sakura pouted at her cousin in disagreement. "But Saso, I don't have any clothes or anything!" she whined in indignation.

"Wear Deidara's", Sasori snapped wearily and disappeared into his room, leaving Deidara scowling and Sakura blushing. Wear Deidara's clothes? He must be kidding.

Deidara cleared his throat.

"Just to make things clear yeah, you are not wearing my clothes".

The statement brought Sakura back into this world. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Like I'd want to anyway".

The two stopped bickering as Sasori returned, carrying a pillow and some sheets. He pushed Deidara off from the couch (who of course, protested loudly) and lay the sheets and pillow on it before he himself sank down on it, earning a squawk from Sakura.

"Move it Sasori, sleep in your room. I'll take the couch, I'm already imposing enough", she protested but Sasori just turned a deaf ear.

"Get off", she grunted, trying to push him off the couch but the dude wouldn't budge. Her cousin sure was heavy despite the short and slim appearance.

Sasori closed his eyes serenely and continued to ignore his cousin's protests. Deidara watched the scene with an entertained smirk on his face. Those two were too stubborn for their own good. Well, he was too but he wasn't going to admit.

Annoyed, Sakura grabbed a cousin from the couch and proceeded to throw it at her cousin's face.

"Argh", she exclaimed in exasperation as Sasori caught it with ease and put it underneath his head as a makeshift pillow.

"Oi, Sasori, if she wants to sleep in the couch, let her, yeah", Deidara suggested but Sasori chose to ignore him too. What did he have to do to get some sleep here?

"Suit yourself, yeah. I'm gonna turn in", Deidara shrugged and to Sakura he added helpfully, "He isn't going to give in so just take the room, yeah". With one last glare at her cousin, Sakura followed Deidara, muttering curses quietly along the way.

The door to what appeared to be Deidara's room was slightly ajar and as he opened the door wider and stepped in, Sakura saw that the one side walls of the room were black and vibrant red and orange flames were painted on them.

The room was messy, as every boy's room was. Band posters covered the wall that wasn't in flames and clothes littered the floor. But one side of the room, she could see, was maintained carefully. Canvasses were positioned carefully against the wall and sculptures like the bird she had seen today were placed in neat rows. She could also see a gleaming black acoustic guitar sitting on its stand at the edge of Deidara's bed. The other place that looked neat and tidy was desk, where a computer sat with speakers on either side. Tons and tons on CDs were stacked in piles on the desk. All in all, the room appealed to her a lot.

"What're you looking for?" she asked the blonde, who was rummaging about in a cupboard.

Deidara ignored her, took out a long black T shirt, and threw it at Sakura, who caught it deftly.

"I thought you didn't want me wearing your clothes", she raised a delicate pink brow. He was such a contradiction.

"Shit, yeah. I did say that", Deidara cursed himself mentally. Now that he thought about it, why _was_ he giving her his clothes?

"Shut up, yeah", he said intelligently and scowled as Sakura giggled.

"Aw, you do have a cute side Dei-Dei", she teased, making Deidara scowl even deeper. What was wrong with him today? First, he suggested that she stay here the night and now he was lending her his clothes?

"Don't worry", she laughed on seeing his annoyed expression.

"I won't ruin your bad boy rep by telling everyone that you actually are capable of being sweet", she sighed dramatically. Bad asses and their reputations…

"Night Dei", she said and left the room. Sasori's room was right next to Deidara's and she braced herself for whatever might be in his room as she walked in, Deidara's T shirt in hand.

She had been right in expecting something weird to show up in Sasori's room. The room itself was neat; her cousin was a neat freak. But what unnerved her were the puppets.

They were hanging from the walls, eerie smiles on their wooden faces. Some shook as the wind blew from the window, making a weird sound as they clacked against each other. One puppet intimidated Sakura in particular. Its eyes were familiar, slanted ones and it was wearing rags. Sasori had even thrown in a large blonde wing on top of it and Deidara's trademark smirk was etched onto the puppet's face.

"Why the hell would Sasori make a puppet of Deidara?" she thought, dumbfounded, as she drew the blinds shut and stripped down into her underwear and put on Deidara's shirt, which came down close to her knees. Yes, she was one of those people who slept in both in their underwear and pyjamas.

With a sigh, she shut off the light and climbed onto the bed. It was too warm to use the sheets. She glanced at the row of puppets on the wall in slight fear. In any moment, she expected them to come alive and strangle her, like in Toy Story minus the strangling part. Oh, how she wished Sasori had just left her the couch and slept in his room.

Her green eyes landed on Deidara Jr. as she had nicknamed the puppet. Maybe Sasori made it like a voodoo doll so that if he stabbed it, Deidara would be stabbed too, she thought with a smile. But knowing Deidara, he would never go that easily. No, was a fighter and would fight until the end, she knew.

Deidara… He was such an enigma to her. One minute he was arrogant and selfish and the next he could be nice and sweet (for his standards). You never knew what to expect with him. He was unpredictable and dangerous and maybe that was what drew her to him so much. A few weeks ago, she had hated his guts and now she was staying over at his apartment and wearing his shirt. She couldn't believe it.

If someone had said that she was going to be staying over at Deidara's apartment back when she hated him, she would've laughed her ass off. She didn't yet understand why Deidara had given her his shirt. She had told him that he didn't want her wearing his clothes and then he was tossing them at her. Maybe Deidara wasn't all that bad. People only saw his arrogant exterior, deemed him a selfish person without taking the time to dig deeper, and actually get to know him. She was also guilty of that fact but now she knew better. She remembered the sculptures and canvasses in his room and how he played the guitar with so much soul. He had this whole other deep side to him that she couldn't help but be attracted to.

Absently, she lifted the collar of his T shirt and sniffed it. It smelled like clay and vanilla. His smell. She adored that smell.

Oh God, this couldn't be happening. Was she actually starting to like him? That couldn't be possible. But, thinking back on the events of the day, she had to admit that Deidara wasn't all that bad to hang around with.

"I am so dead", was her final thought as she fell into a fitful sleep, hand clutching the side of the fabric she was wearing.

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes groggily. She clutched her head for a few seconds to clear her senses. A hard weight across her stomach had woken her up. Using one hand to wipe the sleep from eyes, she used the other to inspect whatever was on her stomach. Perhaps one of Sasori's puppets had fallen on her during the night. After all, it was windy.

But no, it wasn't wooden. Instead, it felt horribly like human skin and bones. Too freaked out to even cry out, Sakura raised herself up against the headboard, her green eyes closed in fear. What the fuck was over her body?

"Please, please, please don't let it be him", she repeated in her brain like a mantra and felt over the bed with her hand, the fingers shaking. Sure enough, she could feel some soft and silky material that felt awfully like hair and a hard, lean chest.

"Oh fuck no!" she hissed, opened her eyes and kicked the figure next to her.

"What the fuck, yeah", Deidara started, rubbing his chest where Sakura had kicked him. It was his arm that had been lying over her stomach, she realized in dread.

She opened her mouth to yell but Deidara plastered his hand over her mouth.

"Shut up idiot, yeah. Do you want Sasori to see us like this?" he whispered furiously. Sakura shook her head 'no'.

"Good, so shut up, yeah", Deidara instructed as he withdrew his hand.

"Fine, but what the hell are you doing here?" Sakura stage whispered in anger. Didn't he have any shame?

"Me, yeah?" Deidara asked in incredulity. "Look around you, cherry".

Puzzled, Sakura glanced around. Wait, this room was messy. Sasori's room hadn't been messy last night and she was sure that his room didn't have a wall painted in black with red flames. And where the heck were the puppets? And then it hit her.

"Fuck", she muttered and Deidara grinned triumphantly. He had been sleeping in his room last night when cherry had come in, half asleep, muttering something about puppets and not being able to sleep in Sasori's room. And he, having been in a generous mood, had let her stay in his room for a while, intending to get her back to Sasori's room after she fell asleep but somewhere along the way, having fallen asleep himself.

He explained this to Sakura, stretching the truth a bit and enjoying the look of horror in her face.

Sakura, meanwhile, tried to digest this information. What the muffin was wrong with her, barging into Deidara's room in the middle of the night while only wearing her underwear and a T shirt? What if he had done something to her? Deidara wasn't the most moral of people. What if he had taken advantage of her drug induced state because obviously, she had to have been on crack to come into his room. Maybe the people in the take out restaurant had put something in her food or whatever.

Consoling herself with these thoughts, she grabbed the sheets out from under Deidara, ignoring his protests and wrapped it around her body before walking to the door. She had to get out of here before Sasori found out or he would kill both her and Deidara. She opened the door a crack and peered out.

"Oh fucketty fuck", she cursed. Sasori was going into his room. She glanced at Deidara in terror. It would only be a matter of seconds before Sasori came into this room. She grabbed the keys and locked the door quickly. She could hear Sasori calling for her.

"What do we do?" she mouthed to Deidara who had sprung out of bed and was desperately searching in his cupboard for something. Sakura was too terrified to even notice that he had nothing but his pants on, revealing his lean muscles.

He threw a black shirt and a pair of jeans that were too small for him and some shoes. "Put those on", he whispered.

Frantically, not even caring that Deidara was there Sakura turned around, removed the shirt, revealing her toned figure (and earning a low whistle from Deidara) and put on the ensemble. The pants fit and though the shirt and shoes were loose, they would do. Deidara himself put on the same outfit he had on the night before and decks.

"What now?" she asked Deidara, who had opened the window, revealing a ledge.

"Deidara, open the door", they panicked as Sasori's voice came from out the door.

"Now we jump, yeah," Deidara mouthed to Sakura. She gulped as Sasori turned the door handle just to find it locked. "Deidara, you in there?" Sasori was now suspicious.

Sakura stared at Deidara with wide eyes as she walked over to the window and gazed down. The drop was not that far but she was afraid of falling and breaking her neck.

"Don't worry, yeah. I won't let you fall", was all she heard before Deidara scooped her up in his arms and jumped off from the ledge.

She had to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming her head off and Deidara jumped, the air swooshing all around them. She closed her eyes in terror, waiting for the impact but nothing came. Instead, when she opened her eyes, Deidara was face up on the ground and she was on top of him. The blonde was grinning maniacally and Sakura strangely felt like laughing.

Then, they both let loose, cracking up until tears leaked out of the corners of their eyes, still in the same position.

"Let's do that again", Sakura said excitedly, her fear disappearing. She guessed that the phrase 'you never know until you try' was true.

Deidara groaned as the impact of her weight kicked in. "No thanks, cherry, yeah. You're heavy", he smirked when Sakura reddened.

"Ass", she said, her green eyes twinkling laughingly. Ah, he loved the color of those big eyes of hers. Sakura stopped grinning as Deidara gazed at her intently, his blue eyes shimmering with something she couldn't put a name to. Sakura gulped. Her throat felt dry. Thank heaven it was still very early and not many people were out or it would have been the biggest embarrassment of their lives.

"Um, we should get back, Sasori is looking for us", she said awkwardly and Deidara snapped back to the present. Damn him for spacing out.

"Yeah", he agreed as they made their way to the front of the apartment in silence, both thinking about what had transpired in that little moment. Had Deidara actually been about to kiss her?

Sasori was there to meet them, a frown on his face, as they opened the front door and walked into the lounge, absorbed in their thoughts.

"Where were you?" he deadpanned. Deidara he knew would be okay but he had been worried sick about Sakura.

"Out for a walk, yeah", Deidara shrugged as Sasori's mahogany eyes scrutinized him for any sign of lying. He seemed satisfied after a while and addressed Sakura.

"I brought your books and some clothes from your house. You should get ready for school", he said, gesturing to a two bags on the couch. One was a messenger bag with her books and the other contained her clothes.

Ah Monday, the most despicable day of the week, Sakura thought as she grabbed the bag. How she hated Monday. Oh well, she should probably hurry and take a shower. Sighing, she walked up the stairs in the direction of the bathroom.

Sensing what she was about to do, Deidara snatched his towel from the rack and raced upstairs, pushing Sakura aside. "Oi, you idiot, I could have fallen!" Sakura cried in annoyance as she too ran upstairs. No way was she going to let Deidara get into the bathroom first. He took ages.

"Get. Back. Here", she huffed as she ran across the hallway, nearing the blonde and grabbing some of his hair. If she was going to win, she had to fight dirty.

"Ow, yeah", Deidara grunted as Sakura yanked him back with his hair and sped up in front of him.

"Oh no you don't, yeah!" Deidara exclaimed and tried to grab Sakura's waist but ended up falling face first on the floor.

Sakura laughed as she ran into the bathroom and locked the door, ignoring Deidara's pounds on it.

Extracting her towel form the bag, she arranged it on the towel rack and inspected the bathroom. It seemed to have been decorated by Sasori and not Deidara, judging from the calming colors that the tiles were. Sasori loved pale calming colors while Deidara seemed to prefer dark and loud colors. With a smile, Sakura wondered how two people who were exact opposites could live together.

She stripped off her clothes and filled the tub with hot water and bath salts before sinking down in it with a sigh.

The warm water was glorious against her skin. "I could stay like this forever", she thought happily.

As if reading her thoughts, a yell came from the outside.

"Oi, cherry, you better not stay in there for ages, yeah", Deidara called. Sakura stuck her tongue out even though he couldn't see it but Deidara had a distinct feeling she was mocking him. Humming a cheerful tune, Sakura eyes the various bottles of shampoo on the counter. Deidara sure was vain when it came to his hair but she supposed she was lucky he had so many hair products.

"And don't use my shampoo, yeah".

Sakura grinned wickedly. Her mom had packed her shampoo but now, after hearing Deidara specifically saying not to use his shampoo, she wanted to use it.

"Whatever you say Dei-chan", she replied and Deidara frowned. She was going to use his stuff, he was sure of it.

Sure enough, Sakura grabbed the best and biggest bottle of shampoo and slathered it onto her hair, enjoying the coolness of it against her head. The shampoo smelled like vanilla but not exactly like Deidara smelled. Maybe that was just his smell.

Deidara winced as he heard the sound of shampoo against hair. She would be the death of him someday.

"Dei-Dei, your shampoo smells really good", Sakura made sure to use as much as she could.

"Shut up, yeah", Deidara grumbled from his spot on the floor in front of the bathroom floor.

Sakura laughed as she rinsed her hair and body, loving the vanilla smell of Deidara's shampoo but not as much as she loved his usual scent.

After, she blow dried her hair with a hairdryer that obviously belonged to Deidara (insert growl here). Sakura wrapped dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her body and put on her underwear and dug deeper into her bag and took up the clothing her mother had sent her and put it on, dumped Deidara's clothes into her bag, grabbed her towel and exited the bathroom.

Deidara stared at her with comically wide eyes. "What the…" he trailed off.

"What?" Sakura asked in puzzlement. Was there something on her face or whatever?

"Um, you should probably go look in the mirror, yeah", Deidara suggested in between chuckles.

With a confused frown, Sakura traipsed into Deidara's room and checked herself out in the mirror.

"Oh fuck no!" The shirt her mother had sent had the words 'Booty Call' printed in bold black letters right in the chest area. Not to mention, it was short and revealed her navel. She had been too absorbed with infuriating Deidara in the bathroom and hadn't noticed it. Deidara himself joined her, now laughing.

"I look like a whore!" she exclaimed in outrage. There was no way in hell she was wearing this to school. No way. Karin would have a field day with this and Sasuke and Naruto would probably have coronaries.

Deidara laughed at her, making her glare increase tenfold. What was her mother thinking, sending this… this rubbish!

Sasori appeared at the doorway. "What's going on he-", he trailed off in a manner similar to Deidara. What the fuck was his cousin wearing?

"Sakura, you're seriously not going to wear that are you?" Sasori asked in disbelief. It was entirely unlike his cousin to ever wear something remotely… suggestive.

"Of course I'm not!" she exploded indignantly. "Ino gave this to me as a joke and Mom probably confused the clothes I wanted to throw away with the ones I wear" she went on irritably.

Muttering curses under her breath, she grabbed Deidara's black T shirt from her bag and threw it on over the offending T shirt. Loose or not, it would have to do. The shirt made it look like she wasn't wearing a skirt at all so she lowered her skirt until it showed, ignoring the fact that there were two males in the room with her, one being her cousin.

Taking a hairbrush out of her bag, she brushed her long pink tresses furiously; making strands of it come out, earning a cry from Deidara.

"Cherry, are you insane? All you hair's gonna come out at that rate, yeah", he said. Sakura ignored him. Deidara and his obsession with hair. He couldn't stand it when someone was neglecting his or her hair. Call him shallow and girly, but it was just his nature.

"Gimme that, yeah", he growled and grabbed the brush from Sakura, eliciting an annoyed squawk from her. He pushed her onto a chair and began to work his magic.

Sasori watched in amusement as Deidara worked Sakura's hair carefully into a half ponytail, leaving her bangs out to frame her face artistically. If anyone saw him now, they wouldn't believe he was the same Deidara.

"There. No need to thank me, yeah", he announced with a self satisfied smirk when he was done. Sakura grinned at her reflection. She actually looked presentable now. And then an idea struck her.

"Saso-kun, Deidara, any of you got a belt or something, preferably gold?" she asked. Deidara shook his head 'no'. Why the hell would he have a gold belt? But to their surprise, Sasori left to his room and came back with a gold belt, earning him amused glances from both Sakura and Deidara.

"It's Hidan's, not mine", he said defensively and Sakura grinned as she grabbed it from it. "Whatever you say Saso-kun".

"I'll be back", she said and disappeared into Sasori's room and closed the door, leaving the two boys staring at each other. What was she going to do?

Sakura grabbed a pair of scissors off Sasori's desk and took off the T shirt. Deidara probably wouldn't mind if she altered the shirt; it was too small for him anyway. Mentally thanking Deidara's arm for waking them up so early, she cut off the sleeves of the T shirt, pulling some thread out to make it look grungy.

She then out it on again, wrapped the belt around her waist, and loosened the top over it, making the shirt look like one of those gowns that girls liked to wear these days. She took the gold converse she had been wearing yesterday and put them on, thanking her stars that she had chosen to worn gold converse the day before.

Contradicting what she had done before, she hoisted up her skirt until it didn't show from underneath the shirt and then, she was done. If only she had some glitter… Oh well, this would just have to do until she went to school.

"All done", she announced cheerfully as she walked back to Deidara's room, the two teens still waiting for her.

Deidara's eyes widened when he saw her. She actually looked good. How the hell had she managed to turn his shirt into that? Sasori too stared at his cousin in disbelief.

"What're you staring at?" Sakura asked with a laugh. "Go and get ready, at this rate we're gonna be late for school".

That brought Deidara and Sasori back to their senses and Deidara ran immediately to the bathroom and Sasori, who had already showered, shooed Sakura out of his room to change. These boys took appearances even more seriously than Ino, which was saying something.

Deidara finally was ready after ages of staying locked in the bathroom and they were all set to go, Sakura wearing her makeshift dress with her messenger bag with her books and clothes inside it. Sasori was clad entirely in black in a shirt, jacket, jeans and shoes and Deidara was dressed in a faded white and purple plaid shirt with its sleeved rolled up with a long sleeved black T shirt underneath it, dark skinny jeans and combat boots. Sakura had to admit that he rocked skinny jeans.

"Wait, how are we actually supposed to get to school?" Sakura asked, suddenly remembering that Sasori's car was with Itachi and Hidan and they couldn't possibly all ride in Deidara's motorcycle.

But was Sasori was already prepared. He had called Itachi beforehand and asked him to bring over his car.

In just a few minutes, a honk told them that Itachi had arrived and they were good to go.

"What the fuck are you doing here pink bitch?" Hidan asked from inside Sasori's car.

A nerve popped in Sakura's forehead. She knew that it was just the way Hidan spoke and it annoyed her to no end but she kept quiet. Itachi slid over to the passenger seat and Sasori slipped into the driver's seat of his beloved mustang. Boys and their cars.

Tobi, Kisame and Hidan sat in the backseat and Sakura frowned. There was no way she was going to be able to fit in with the 7 foot tall Kisame and muscular Hidan with Tobi in the way.

"Forgetting something cherry, yeah?" Deidara smirked at her from next to his bike. Oh, right, Sakura thought and shut the door of the car and walked to the bike.

Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she had actually seen Deidara's bike. The last time she rode it; she was hurt and confused and hadn't had time to admire it.

It really was a magnificent beast. Huge and gleaming black with red flames, she thought it suited Deidara just right.

Catching Sasori's hawk eye, Deidara handed the only helmet to Sakura and hopped onto the bike, the pink haired teen settling behind him.

The car drove off, the engine purring beautifully, but the bike overtook it quickly, the beast roaring. The Akatsuki all smirked at the baby of their group as he showed off to his pink haired friend, even Sasori. "Show off", he muttered, even though he was amused.

Deidara grinned maniacally, his long blonde hair tickling Sakura's face as the wind blew it in all directions.

"Whoo!" Sakura raised her arms in ecstasy as Deidara showed off his mad motorcycling skills, earning ooh's and ah's from the people on the street.

Deidara felt himself smile at the pink haired teen's enthusiasm. He didn't usually smile, just smirked or sneered but she seemed to be able to make him smile. This was the second time already.

The engine roaring loudly, the two teens made a dramatic entrance to the school grounds, Sakura yelling like crazy and Deidara's hair flying in the wind, Sasori's car right behind them.

The students watched in awe as the pink haired teen conversed with the notorious transfer group of the school easily. She was the only person who dared to cross them and they admired her for that. Even the group seemed to respect her by the way they stood around her as if to protect her, even Hidan-san, the hot tempered one.

Karin and her cronies made to the group of students watching Sakura and the Akatsuki, wondering what all the commotion was about.

"Move it!" she spat at the other people and self absorbedly stomped her way into the front of the crowd gathered in the school grounds.

Her eyes narrowed into little slits at the scene before her. Sakura was hanging around with the revered transfer group and she actually punched Deidara-san! How dare she try to hog all the boys to herself? As if Sasuke-kun wasn't enough, she was trying to get the transfer group too! Karin wouldn't stand for it.

She had not forgotten her resolution to crush Sakura.

She smirked at the pink haired teen who was laughing with Deidara and Sasori, having no idea what was going to happen to her.

"You'll be sorry you ever crossed me pinky".

* * *

Whew, my hands hurt from typing. Well, that was the ninth chapter of Battle of the Bands. Liked it? It's my longest chapter yet, almost 6000 words. Please review and tell me what you thought of it. Oh, and can anyone tell me if I've captured Deidara's and Sakura's personalities nicely? I've altered some stuff but I hope their personalities are to your liking. Please let me know. And if you have any suggestions as to what Karin would do to Sakura, PM me. Review!

Love,

Alistair.


	10. Chapter Ten

Whoa, it really has been a while right? My tests are still on but I only have three subjects left so I can update soon! Anyways, what's weird is that its 09:15 here in Colombo, Sri Lanka, I'm eating honey loops (yes, I eat cereal in the night) and I'm typing this when I'm supposed to be studying for my Bio test :D and have to wake up at 5:00 in the morning. Without further delay, onto the tenth chapter of Battle of the Bands (I really have to find a better title).

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I don't own Kashmir either, it belongs to Led Zeppelin.

Chapter 10

After parting ways with the Akatsuki, Sakura made her way to the first class of the day, Biology taught by Orochimaru, only to be glomped by Ino at the doorway.

"Oi, pig, what's all the enthusiasm about?" she asked with a laugh but Ino just shot her a look that said 'shut up and come with me' and dragged her all the way to a hallway off the girls' bathroom, shooting paranoid looks in every direction and confusing the hell out of Sakura.

"Okay, so what's this about Ino? Did Shikamaru finally ask you out?" Sakura asked, her hands on her hips and an expecting look on her face.

"Do you realize you are wearing some hideous pink _thing_ underneath your dress?" Ino asked with a shiver.

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed, eyes wide and angled her neck to look at her sleeve. Sure enough, she was still wearing Ino's hideous pink gift.

A nerve popped on the pink haired teen's forehead. That idiot Deidara! Couldn't he have at least warned her that she was still wearing the pink shirt? And Sasori too! He was supposed to be her cousin for hell's sakes!

"Whew, thanks for telling me Ino or I would have been a laughing stock", she managed a smile at her friend. Gotta love Yamanaka Ino for being so fashion conscious.

"Don't thank me, I just didn't want to been seen with you while wearing _that_", Ino teased and Sakura glared at her. So much for loving Ino.

"Ack!" Ino squeaked as her phone vibrated in her pocket. She never got used to that thing. Sakura watched as the blonde extracted her state of the art phone and checked it and at once, her face brightened.

"Oh my God, it's Shika. He finally gave me his number!" she squealed happily, bouncing on the toes of her flats. Sakura hugged her, forgetting about her teasing comment. Shikamaru had kept his number a secret from her all these years somehow. Only the guys had it and Shikamaru had forbidden them from telling her (Naruto had tried to once but Shikamaru threatened to blackmail him. Apparently, being the resident genius, a superb hacker and an observer had its uses). Ino had whined about it for ages, until Sakura and the girls had gotten sick of it and threatened not to talk with her if she didn't cease her whining and now, finally, he had given her his number.

"He wants me to come to class. He has something to tell me apparently", Ino said with stars in her eyes and Sakura giggled. Young love.

And so, telling Sakura to change quick and come back to class, Yamanaka Ino left the hallway, muttering something about 'Shika-kun finally coming to his senses'.

Sakura smiled for her friend and entered the girls' bathroom and into a stall and locked the door. She took off her makeshift dress, removed the offending T shirt, dumped it into her messenger bag, and put on the dress, breathing in Deidara's vanilla scent deeply.

Thanking her stars that Ino had noticed the T shirt, Sakura opened the door of the stall and walked to the sink.

With the tap turned on, she didn't hear the bathroom door open and a person walk in. Didn't see the person as they settled behind her as she splashed her face with cold water. Only when she raised her head did she see the person standing directly behind her.

With widened eyes, she turned around, only to be met with a sharp blow to the head.

The figure grinned as Sakura slid to the ground.

Sea foam eyes watered in pain as Sakura struggled to just get up and beat the shit out of the asshole that had hit her but the pain in her head was too much.

"I told you I'd get you back".

Deidara's vanilla smell entered her nostrils once again as Haruno Sakura's eyes drifted shut.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino sighed grumpily, her head resting on her chin as Orochimaru droned on and on about the endocrine system.

Apparently, some idiot thought it was funny to send her a prank message as Shikamaru using a fake number. Turns out that Shikamaru had never messaged her and that wasn't even his number. Her immediate conclusion was that Naruto had done it but the blonde had an alibi; his phone had been confiscated by Tsunade, the head of the disciplinary committee, for using it to browse the net during class.

Ah well, the situation did have a plus side, Shikamaru had given her his real number saying that it would be 'troublesome' if the person who tricked her struck again using his name.

With another sigh, Ino glanced at the empty seat next to her. Sakura still wasn't back and it was a good twenty minutes since she had left her in the bathroom.

Well, Sakura did skip classes occasionally to practice guitar in the club room so maybe she was there, Ino thought but she couldn't shake away a small part of her that said 'maybe something happened to her'.

Glancing at Orochimaru to make sure that he wasn't watching her, she tapped Sasuke, who was in front of her, on the back.

The raven haired teen turned around, annoyed that his concentration had been broken but his expression softened a bit when he saw the worried look on Ino's face.

"Sasuke, did Sakura text you about where she is or something?" she asked hopefully but the expression returned to that of worry when the Uchiha shook his head.

"You should send her a message", Sasuke advised and turned back around but his mind wasn't on the lecture anymore and on the whereabouts of his female friend. He too knew that Sakura was prone to skipping classes but according to Naruto, she usually texted someone about it.

He frowned as a thought entered his head. Maybe she was with his brother's friends and her cousin. He hoped she had not gotten into trouble with them.

As the bell rang, Naruto, Ino, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Hinata gathered in the doorway of the Biology class. Naruto looked troubled, Ino and Hinata looked downright worried and Sasuke was frowning in thought. Even the lazy genius Shikamaru was worried for Sakura.

Ino, without the knowledge of Orochimaru, had texted Sakura a dozen times but not once had she answered. She had even texted Tenten, asking her whether she had seen Sakura but the brunette had replied in the negative.

"I'm going to look in the girls' bathroom. You guys go look in the club room", Ino said and turned to Hinata. "Hina, could you go to the senior's section and find Sakura's cousin? He needs to know. If you're lucky, he still hasn't gone to his next class". Hinata nodded and ran in the direction of the senior's section, her petite face scrunched in worry for her friend, and Ino took off to the girls' bathroom.

The guys made way to the club room, asking everyone on the way whether they had seen Sakura. After all, a girl with pink hair was hard to miss.

Ino had arrived at the bathroom. She pushed open the double doors and walked inside, searching for any signs of her pink haired friend.

Ino checked the stalls one by one but none seemed to be occupied except the one in the farthest corner. The electronic sign was blinking and read 'occupied'.

Her expression one of dread, Ino tried to open the door but it seemed to only open from the inside once it was closed.

"Sakura, are you in there?" she called anxiously but received no answer. In her desperation, she even kicked the door but to no avail.

Reaching her wits end, Ino grabbed her phone and sent Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata a message saying 'to the girls' bathroom, hurry and Hinata, get Sakura's cousin!'

Meanwhile, Hinata, panting, was running about in the senior's section and read Ino's message Where was Sakura's cousin?

The seniors watched the cute junior girl running about in the wrong section in curiosity. What was she doing here?

Hinata squeaked suddenly as she bumped into someone's hard chest.

"Oh, I-I'm s-sorry senpai, I-", the poor, flustered girl was cut off by a small smile from the person she had bumped into.

"It's fine. You are Sakura-san's friend, correct? What are you doing in the senior's section?" Hinata was immediately put at ease by the person's gentle tone and deep voice. She recognized him as Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, Sasori-senpai's friend. Wait…

"Uchiha-senpai, h-have you s-seen Sasori-senpai? S-Sakura-chan's in t-trouble", she managed to get out. Itachi's forehead creased in a small frown. Trouble? He had better get Sasori.

"Stay here Hyuuga-san, I'll come back with Sasori-san", Itachi assured her and disappeared into the crowd of senior's, his tall frame easily visible.

Hinata leant against the wall and let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank God", she muttered softly.

In no time, Itachi was back with a grim Sasori and an unusually serious Deidara behind him.

"Do you know where she is, Hyuuga-san?" Sasori asked, in no mood to deal with pleasantries.

Hinata nodded and led them down to the junior section of the school. On the way, they met Sasuke, Shikamaru and Naruto, and Sasuke, for once said nothing about his brother's presence. Sakura's safety mattered more at the moment.

The five boys burst into the girls' bathroom without even thinking about it, almost giving Ino a heart attack, Hinata following more slowly. Ino wasted no time in asking why Itachi and most importantly Deidara were there and just pointed to the stall in the corner.

"I think she's in there".

There was no need to say anything more. Deidara immediately made a move to kick open the door but was stopped by Sasori.

"What, yeah?" he growled. Sasori could see that he was worried, no matter what he would say later.

"Do you want to kill her?" Sasori asked and Deidara scowled, dropping his leg.

"Hyuuga-san, Yamanaka-san, do you have a hair clip or something?" Sasori asked, kneeling down on the floor, uncaring of how unhygienic that was.

Hinata shook her head 'no' but Ino removed a bobby pin from her hair and handed it to Sasori. He wordlessly accepted it, straightened it out, thrust it into the lock, twisted, and turned it a few times. The others watched, Sasuke and Deidara looking just about ready to bust the door open no matter what Sasori had said.

They let out a breath as the lock clicked and the door opened a crack. Sasori stood up and Deidara, who was nearest to him, pushed open the door.

Ino and Hinata let out choked sobs, Naruto's cerulean eyes and Itachi's dark grey ones widened simultaneously, Sasuke's fists clenched at their sides and Deidara growled angrily. Sasori seemed to be unable to form words.

There was Sakura, unconscious and curled into a ball on the floor, and her dress torn and ripped in places.

But worst of all, was her hair.

It was cut short, into ragged and messy bangs. Tufts of pink hair were still on the floor, some on Sakura's body, looking strangely like cherry blossom petals.

The teens stared in horror. Who the hell could have done such a thing, they all thought but then again, all of them knew the answer to that.

Ino was the first to break the silence.

"I'll kill that bitch. I'll fucking kill her!" she screeched like a mad woman. How dare that whore do this to Sakura? She'd kill her.

Ino's screams eventually receded into small sobs and Hinata, surprisingly, was the one comforting her. Even Shikamaru went over to the sobbing blonde and put his arm over her.

Sasori still seemed unable to react and Itachi, wisely, dragged him aside.

They all watched as Deidara knelt down and gently lifted Sakura's body off the floor. He felt a rush of anger inside him as the tufts of hair fell off of her body and onto the floor. His arrogant face now grim and serious, Deidara turned to Sasori, cradling Sakura in his plaid clad arms.

"I'm taking her to the infirmary. You better come, yeah", the obvious anger in his tone was unmistakable and Itachi watched in slight surprise. Deidara was someone who never worried about other people and always did as he pleased and here he was, obviously concerned for the girl he was holding in his arms.

Sasori blinked and nodded, coming to his senses.

"W-we're coming too", Hinata said and Ino nodded from next to her, wiping away her tears. Sasuke and Naruto too followed Deidara and Sasori, Sasuke saying nothing about the fact that Deidara was carrying Sakura.

"I guess I'll have to explain to the Headmaster", Shikamaru sighed.

"I'll come with you", Itachi said and the duo made way to the Headmaster's office while the others headed to the infirmary, Deidara still in the lead.

Ino had texted Tenten, telling her of the events and the brunette was already at the infirmary when they arrived. She gasped at the sight of Sakura in Deidara's arms and at her hair.

"Who the fuck did that?" she asked Ino furiously, disregarding the fact that the nurse was there.

"I'll give you one guess", Ino replied drily as Deidara laid Sakura on the bed, Shizune immediately checking over her.

"Karin", Tenten spat out viciously. Oh, she'd show that bitch later.

"Is she okay?" Sasuke and Sasori asked the nurse in unison.

"She will be. She's had a good blow to the head. She's going to need some ice for that. Do you have any idea how this happened?" Shizune asked.

"We don't know", Ino said. "We were at the bathroom before class and I received a text… The text! Karin did that that too, the bitch! She planned this! I left her for a few minutes and then she didn't return to class and that was when we went looking for her", she explained, her corn flower blue eyes fiery.

Shizune listened in disbelief. Students these days. What was wrong with them? If the blow had struck Sakura harder, her head would surely have been punctured and she could have lost a lot of blood.

"Do you think we could track the number?" Naruto asked, unusually grim.

"No, if she was smart, she would have used a disposable phone", Sasuke responded.

"Fortunately for us, Karin in not very smart", Ino added. "I'm betting she used her own phone for that".

The three continued discussing ways to prove Karin was the perpetrator while Shizune treated Sakura. Deidara and Sasori were sitting on the hard backed chairs next to Sakura's bed, Deidara's ice blue eyes trained on Sakura's form.

Sasori watched his best friend as he watched his cousin. Deidara was worried about her, anyone could see that and Deidara never worried about anyone. He was a hard-headed, arrogant idiot who covered up his true self by his bad ass and mischievous exterior. And yet here he was, concerned about Sakura. Even though he was his best friend, sometimes Sasori just couldn't figure out Deidara. Once you thought you had him all figured, he'd go and throw another curve ball at you, like this.

Meanwhile, Deidara was feeling conflicted. Extremely conflicted. He always told himself that he didn't care for her, that she was just another person to him, that he wasn't attracted to her and yet, when he had seen her there, unconscious and on the floor, he had been angry, furious, and at the same time, relieved that she was not hurt beyond that. Exactly what was she to him? An associate, a friend, or something more? He just couldn't put his finger on it. It was annoying. He was still trying to convince himself that he didn't care for her, but then why was he still here? Why had he come with Sasori? Why had he been the one to carry her? Why was he so fucking conflicted when it came to her? God, he was going to drive himself crazy with these questions.

Deidara groaned and took out his iPod. Might as well listen to some music while he was at it. It didn't look like Sasori would be leaving too soon.

He flicked on his iPod and the first song that played was 'Best of You' by the Foo Fighters.

"Ah stupid fucking iPod, yeah!" he cursed mentally and paused it, browsing the other tracks. Not even his iPod seemed to be on his side today.

"Aha, yeah", he said aloud, earning a curious glance from Sasori and played 'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin. Ah, let us drift with the dulcet tones of Robert Plant and the other guys whose names I don't know.

But no, fate wouldn't allow him to even listen to a song (damn, he really liked to hear Robert Plant wail) because at the exact moment Robert Plant was at his awesome 'Ooooh' part, Sakura just had to wake up.

"Sakura!" Sasori exclaimed and the other three teens stopped chatting and immediately walked over to the pink haired teen's bed. Deidara and Sasori leaned down in their chairs so that their faces were directly above Sakura's own.

Sakura's sea foam eyes fluttered open, the lashes tangled in each other.

What had happened? She remembered washing her face and then… nothing. Why did her head hurt like the freaking fires of well were ignited in it and whose eyes were those? So, blue, pretty, and smudged with eye liner and there was hair too, lots of it, pretty and blonde and he smelled of vanilla too. Oh Holy hell, had she died and gone to heaven and was this guy Kurt Cobain's spirit?

"OH MY GOD, KURT!" she exclaimed and raised her head only to have it smacked against 'Kurt Cobain's', making the pain even worse.

"Owwie, ow, ow!" she said, clutching her head. 'Kurt' cursed.

"Do I look like a fucking dead guy to you, yeah?!" no, that wasn't Kurt's voice. Wait, actually she recognized that voice, those eyes, the hair and especially the vanilla smell.

"Deidara!" she exclaimed. What was he doing here? Wait… where was here anyway?

"No, I'm Billy fucking Joe, of course it's Deidara, you idiot!" Next to Deidara, she could see Sasori's worried face.

"Hey Sasori. Um, where are we again?" she asked, disoriented, and Deidara scowled at being ignored.

"You're at the infirmary Sakura", she turned to see Sasuke, Ino, Tenten, Hinata and Naruto all smiling somewhat shakily at her, even Sasuke.

"Sasuuu! Why am I at the infirmary? Don't tell me I fainted on the gym floor again", she joked but the smiles disappeared.

"What? What happened to me?" she asked, now panicking. Why was not anyone answering her?

Desperately, she turned to Deidara. She knew he would hand it straight to her without any qualms.

"What happened to me Dei? Am I gonna die or something?" she asked.

Deidara scoffed. How could she think she was dying with just a blow to the head? Well, then again, he had been pretty worried himself. "Of course you're not gonna die idiot, yeah. You're… well, let's just say I can't call you cherry anymore, yeah", he muttered and the others smiled sadly.

"What?" Sakura asked confusedly. No one was making any sense. Why couldn't Deidara call her cherry anymore?

Ino swallowed and extracted a compact from her bag and handed it to Sakura. "You, um, should see for yourself Sakura. I'm sorry".

The feeling of dread in her stomach increased and Sakura grabbed the compact with shaking fingers. She supposed she knew what was coming but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw when she opened the compact and raised it to her face.

A strangled gasp escaped her lips.

Her hair… It was chopped up roughly into awful messy bangs up to neck level. No two strands were cut in the same length and there were awful split ends in her hair.

Holding back her sobs, she clutched her hair. She had been growing it out since she was a kid and now it was just gone.

"Who did it?" she asked, a dangerous edge to her voice.

"Well, we're not really sure Sakura but-", Ino was cut off by Sakura.

"Who the fuck did it!" now she was just plain angry.

"We think it was Karin, that she was the one that sent the message and did that to you", Ino sighed.

Sakura swallowed audibly, clutching the compact so hard it probably shattered. That bitch. That fucking little slut. What the hell had she ever done to her (except punch the truth to her ugly whorish face of course) to deserve this? Oh, she would show that Karin.

The others watched in surprise as suddenly, a grin formed on Sakura's face. She lifted her head, messy bangs and all and grinned even wider.

"Deidara, Tenten, Naruto, Ino, what do you say we teach that bitch a lesson?" she asked.

Deidara's pissed off expression disappeared and was replaced by an impish grin on hearing her words. This was what he liked about her, her total unwillingness to back down and go without a fight.

"I like your style, cherry, yeah. I'm in".

Naruto, Ino and Tenten looked at each other, grins identical to Sakura's and Deidara's forming on their faces.

"Definitely (believe it)"

Sakura looked at Sasori and Sasuke, her eyes wide and pleading and mouth pouting.

"Fine", the both replied simultaneously (they sure had a knack for doing that), rolling their eyes. You couldn't even say that this was the same girl that had her head bashed and hair cut off just a little while ago.

"Count Shika in too!" Ino said cheerfully, waving her phone. Shizune watched in amusement as the whole mood of the room changed.

"Alright, let the games begin", Sakura cried.

"Oh yeah, first I have to do something about this hair", she said and a little of the earlier sadness came back but she pushed it away and replaced it with energy for the mission they were about to embark on.

Deidara smirked and Sakura smirked back. How long had it been since he had smirked like that at her? A while.

"Leave that to me, cherry, yeah".

* * *

How was it? Short I know, but it was the best I could do and I have to go study now. Thankfully, I got Biology tomorrow, my best subject after English. Wish me luck Please review and let me know how you thought the chapter was and whether the DeiSaku was enough.

Love,

Alistair.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Hey guys! I don't have any excuse for the late update even though I said I would update quick except that I've been lazy these days since the holidays just started and I'm enrolled in this creative writing program and the fact that I've discovered my new fetish, Bleach :D Who else loves Byakuya and Ulquiorra?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. This is annoying *does my version of Uchiha glare*

Chapter 11

"Oy, stop fidgeting, yeah!" Deidara grunted in annoyance.

"But it's so boring~", Sakura whined in a sing song tone, pouting at Deidara's annoyed reflection in the mirror.

"Fine. Just don't blame me if I accidentally (more like purposefully) snip an ear off, yeah", Deidara said nonchalantly, brandishing the pair of scissors in his hand threateningly.

Sakura laughed. "Nah, you like me too much for that", she teased, expecting a response like 'you wish, yeah' but surprisingly, he just blinked and went on working on her hair.

After Shizune had finished checking on her, Sakura, and somehow Deidara and Sasori had gotten excuses and the three had come to the boys' apartment to get Sakura's hair fixed, under the pretense of taking Sakura home to get some rest.

Itachi and Shikamaru had explained the situation to the Headmaster, leaving out the parts about where they thought Karin was the perpetrator. Sakura was going to get her own revenge on Karin. Hmm… what was she going to do to her?

"Ouch!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly, as Deidara tugged on her hair with a brush none too gently, cutting short her thoughts on what she would do to Karin.

She glared at his smug reflection in the mirror.

"What'd you do that for?" she asked irritably.

"You just seemed a little preoccupied there, is all, yeah", Deidara grinned wickedly. That was payback her earlier comment. Damn, she knew how to hit him where it hurt.

"Ass", she muttered, half irritably and half in amusement.

"I'm hurt. Is that how you repay me when I've oh so selflessly helped you, yeah?" he sighed dramatically. Sakura rolled her eyes at his weirdness and checked her reflection in the mirror, her widened green eyes looking back at her.

"No need to thank me, yeah", Deidara grinned arrogantly.

Sakura gaped at her reflection in wonder. Deidara had evened out all of her ragged ends, the split ends were nowhere to be seen and her hair was now up to her collarbone, since he had managed to straighten out the knots and her bangs were the same length as the rest of her hair.

There wasn't a single clue to betray that her hair had ever been cut into ragged and uneven ends.

Sakura turned to Deidara with a wondrous smile on her face. "How the hell did you manage to turn that monstrosity into this?" she asked in disbelief. She actually looked decent. Hell, scratch that, she looked awesome!

"All in a day's work, yeah", Deidara replied coolly but his cool expression dissolved into one of surprise when Sakura suddenly wrapped her arms around him in her excitement.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you", she squealed. "You're better than a hairdresser any day Dei-Dei", she said against his chest, breathing his vanilla scent in deeply through her nose.

Deidara grunted gruffly, caught off guard by her embrace. Awkwardly, he patted her on the back, not having a clue as to what to do in this sort of situation.

"Whatever you say, yeah", he muttered as Sakura let go of him and turned back to the mirror, not noticing, in her state of happiness, that she had actually embraced Deidara voluntarily.

She admired her reflection in the mirror. Meanwhile, Deidara tried to get himself back together, still not having recovered from her hug. She even smelt like cherries, he noticed.

"You know, I kinda look like when I was five", Sakura said, flipping her hair this way and that. Behind her, Deidara smirked. Little did she know that he had modeled her hair after the picture he had seen on her refrigerator (the one with the tutu) .What could he say? He had a photographic memory.

Sobering up, Sakura reminded herself that this was Deidara, who never did anything for anyone unless there was something in it for him (in her opinion).

"Maybe I shouldn't have gotten so excited", she thought with a sigh.

"So, what's the catch?" she asked.

Deidara faked a hurt expression. "Your lack of faith in me is offending, cherry, yeah", he sighed.

"Come on Dei, I know you. What's the catch?" she tapped her foot in impatience.

"Alright, you got me, yeah", he rolled his eyes.

"The catch is that you have to use my idea for the first stage of your revenge on that kid, what's her name? Ka-something, yeah".

"No way", Sakura deadpanned.

"Fine, you got any ideas on what we should do?" he raised a blonde brow and Sakura sighed in defeat.

"Alright, let's do it your way", she agreed huffily.

"Thought so, yeah", Deidara smirked in triumph.

"Now, tell me about this plan of yours", Sakura said as she settled down on Deidara's bed while flopped down backwards on his swivel La-Z-boy.

"That's a pretty good plan", Sakura said after he had explained it all to her.

"Oh, and all credit for this first stage goes to me, yeah", Deidara added with a smirk as an afterthought.

"You are _such_ a douche bag, Dei".

* * *

It was evening and Sakura had visitors. Six visitors to be precise. She, Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, Hinata, Tenten and Shikamaru were all sprawled here and there in her bedroom, some of them on the floor, some on chairs and some on the bed, all there to discuss the 'master plan for Karin's destruction'.

"Come on Sasuke, pretty please with tomatoes on top?" Sakura begged her raven haired friend but Sasuke simply shook his head.

"Argh! Sasuke, you said you'd help me", Sakura complained in annoyance. Sasuke was too frigging stubborn for his own good sometimes.

"Yeah Sasuke, didn't you say you'd help her?" Tenten asked with a raised brown brow. She, Ino, Naruto, Hinata and Sakura's cousin and friend were all witnesses.

"Tch. Annoying", Sasuke remarked, scowling at the expectant faces of his so called 'friends'. Were they trying to get on his bad side?

"Okay then, if you won't do it, I'll get Deidara to do it. I'm sure he'll agree", Sakura said, whipping her phone out and dialing a number. The best way to get Sasuke to do something he didn't like, she knew, was to play on his pride.

"Hey, cherry, what do you want, yeah?" Deidara answered, his unique tone of voice sounding slightly occupied.

Sakura glanced meaningfully at Sasuke, who was now glaring. Just a bit more.

"Hey, Dei-Dei, can you do me a favor?" she asked in an overly cheerful tone.

"Get on with it, I'm busy here, yeah", Deidara replied hastily. Hidan, Itachi and Sasori all glared at him, silently telling him to get on with it. They had a gig to rehearse for and no time for Deidara's 'little friend' as Hidan called Sakura, much to the displeasure of both the blonde and Sasori.

"I need you to-", Sakura was cut off by Sasuke. Victory.

"Fine, but don't expect me to do something I won't", he agreed and Sakura hung up on Deidara.

"Oy, hello?" Deidara spoke from the other line. "Fucking idiots, yeah", he muttered as he flipped his phone shut and went back to work.

"Thank you Sasu~ you're the best", Sakura said, wrapping her arms around Sasuke in some sort of death glomp.

"S-Sakura, get off", Sasuke growled, face turning blue from the crazed girl's loving strangle.

"Sorry, sorry", she apologized as she let go and Sasuke took a few deep breaths. Any other guy would have been writhing on the floor when caught in one of Sakura's 'loving squeezes' but he was an Uchiha and an Uchiha's pride was more important than their lives so he managed not to show his discomfort.

Ino grinned at him in amusement. That kid and his pride. He was going to kill himself one of these days.

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan! What do you want me to do?" Naruto asked enthusiastically from the black fluffy carpet of Sakura's bedroom.

"Well, the first stage mostly requires Sasuke's cooperation (he growled at that) so maybe you'll have a role in the other stages of the plan. We haven't decided on them yet", Sakura explained and Naruto's face fell. It wasn't fair; Sasuke always got all the action.

"Sakura-chan, a-are you sure h-having revenge on Karin is a g-good idea?" Hinata spoke up tentatively from her spot on Sakura's window seat. She wasn't big on taking revenge on other people.

"You don't have to be involved in it Hina", Sakura said soothingly. Hinata was much too kind to be plotting revenge on someone.

The shy girl let out a sigh of relief. She wouldn't have any clue about what to do and would only get in the way is she participated in this 'Kill Karin Death Mission' or KKDM for short.

"Alright", Sakura said in a decisive manner, clapping her hands together, startling the sleeping Shikamaru.

"Ino, still have the number Karin texted you from?" she asked and Ino handed Sakura her cell. "It's the fifth number on the call log", Ino said.

"Sakura, we still don't know if that's really Karin's number", Shikamaru said warningly but Sakura shrugged him off. This had to be Karin's number, it just had to. There was no way that she was smart enough to have used a disposable phone to call Ino.

With a wicked gleam in her eye, Sakura texted the number to Sasuke's phone.

Glowering all the while, the Uchiha dialed the number grudgingly, his face contorted in reluctance.

"Hello, who is this?" a girls oblivious voice came from the other line.

"Put it on speaker", Sakura mouthed frantically to Sasuke, who did as he was told.

"I said hello", it was definitely Karin's voice. Sakura did a silent fist pump. Score.

"Karin, its Sasuke", he managed to get out through gritted teeth.

The girl's whole tone changed. "Sasuke-kun? Oh my Gosh, you're calling me!" she screeched so loudly that the teens had to cover their ears and stifle their laughter, well, except Sasuke, who looked like he had swallowed something particularly disgusting.

"Sasuke-kuuun, I can't believe you're calling me! Oh my Gosh, do you want to go on a date?! MOM, SASUKE-KUN WANTS TO GO OUT WITH ME!" she squealed in such a loud voice that Sakura's mother from downstairs yelled at them to keep it down. "You do want to go right. Oh God, this is so great!"

Sasuke looked like he was going to damn this whole thing to hell and just hang up on her but faced against Ino, Sakura and Tenten's death glares; he figured that he should just get on with it if he wanted to walk away with his body parts intact. Tell him again why he had agreed to this?

Glancing up to the heavens as if saying 'God help me', he muttered 'Yes' into the phone.

The squeal that came next was so loud and joyous that Sasuke held the phone an arm distance away from him, afraid that the speaker would actually blow up from Karin's impossibly high pitched screaming. That girl should sing opera, seriously. Or maybe powerhouse.

After muttering that she should come to his house at seven tomorrow, Sasuke hung up morosely. He was actually asking his –shudder- date (although Karin came as close as being his date as Deidara was to being moral) to come to his house instead of picking her up. If only his father could see him now. He'd be so proud, he thought sarcastically.

Sasuke glanced up at the faces of the three girls in front of him.

"Happy?" he asked them sardonically.

Sakura, Ino and Tenten had big grins on their faces. Too big for Sasuke's tastes.

With squeals, the three girls launched himself at him, even Tenten. Sasuke's obsidian eyes widened comically.

"Oh fuck".

* * *

The next day, school was torture was our beloved (note the sarcasm) young Uchiha. It was bad enough that he had to spend the evening with Karin but the girl had to shriek at everyone how 'Sasuke-kun was taking her on a date' and stuck closer to him than ever. Damn, she was like a leech, always hanging onto him. Thank goodness, she wouldn't sit in their table on account of catching 'germs' from Sakura and the others. Personally, Sasuke wanted to tell her where she could stick her germs but his pride wouldn't let him so he kept his mouth shut.

Sakura was too excited for the evening to come so she just dismissed whatever Karin said to her. When she had first walked into school this morning, smiling and with perfect hair, Karin's jaw had dropped so low you could see the inside of her stomach. Ha, serves her right, Sakura thought happily. They were lucky that Sasuke hadn't blown up yet. She couldn't blame the kid if he did. Who would want to spend the latched to Karin of all people? Sakura shuddered at that. She would rather be latched to Deidara, now there was a thought, or maybe even Sasori.

Speaking of the Sasori and his blonde bombshell of a friend, she had both invited them to Sasuke's house this evening along with the others for the KKDM (Kill Karin Death Mission, if you don't remember) meeting. It was Deidara's idea and he needed to be there. A goofy grin on her face, she continued to doodle on her creative writing notebook, happily ignoring Kakashi's lecture.

Meanwhile, Sasuke glowered from the seat next to her. He couldn't concentrate on the lecture Kakashi was giving them. His mind was on the horrible prospect of having dinner with Karin this evening. How he wished he had never agreed to this insane plan in the first place. But now, he had no escape. If he ducked out now, he would be lucky to escape with his life. Damn, but why Karin? The news had spread all over the school (also Karin's doing) and he couldn't even walk the hallways without someone staring funnily at him. It was annoying. It was as if he had been caught sleeping with a teacher or something; everyone was fucking staring at him. Normally, he wouldn't care but even Itachi had stared at him as if he was crazy. Itachi! The dude who he hated with every fiber of his being (for reasons not yet revealed) had been silently reprimanding him for his choice of female companions. Oh the joy! (Again, note the sarcasm).

After school was over, the teens met in the school grounds, even Hidan and Itachi had come (well, Itachi did live with Sasuke), all with smirks on their faces except Sasuke and Sasori. The latter was sporting his usual serene look and the former looked like he had swallowed a sock. A disgusting green tinged smelly sock at that.

Deidara caught Sakura's eye and winked subtly. Sasuke would never know that this had all been his idea in the first place. It was safe to say that Deidara would be missing an arm, leg and all that pretty, soft blonde hair of his if Sasuke knew,(though Sasuke's condition would be worse).

The teens divvied up into groups and drove to Sasuke's house, Sakura riding with Deidara, bickering with him while the rest of Akatsuki followed Deidara's beast. Sasuke drove his car with Naruto and Hinata in the back and Tenten at the front while Ino hitched a ride on Shikamaru's (sweet, sweet) motorcycle. Shikamaru seemed to be warming up to her these days.

The two bikes were roaring up at the front, Sasuke was driving his Chevy impala behind them and the Akatsuki mobile (A.K.A Itachi's Camarro), brought up the rear.

The teens parked their (sweet) vehicles in the driveway of the Uchiha Compound and entered the large house, or more like mansion, Sasuke surprisingly not saying anything about the Akatsuki being there. Hello, people! His mind was on other things, like the monstrosity of a girl that would be arriving approximately four hours from then.

Even though Sakura had been here many times before for rehearsal, she was always overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness of the Uchiha residence. It was simple and elegant and there weren't any lavish displayings of wealth but the places still exuded sort of a quiet, old fashioned aura that never failed to put her at peace. But she doubted that that Sasuke was put at peace by the aura of his house considering the torture he was about to go through. It was great of him to help her like this, even though he would probably be scarred for life after this. He could be nice sometimes, just in his own, quiet way. Like Deidara, he didn't like to show that he could be kind when he wanted to.

Smiling at the weirdness of her friends, Sakura followed them into Sasuke room, which was about thrice the size of her own room, very neat and very modern and streamlined. The floor was dark blue with gray walls and the bed had a dark blue bedspread. In fact, most of the room was dark blue and on a state-of-the-art glass desk, was a sleek black laptop. There was even a huge LED flat screen TV on the wall and all sorts of videogame consoles. But what Sakura found the most appealing was the equally state of the art PC with an awesome looking sound system. The dude was rich.

Unlike her room, there was nothing personal strewn about in Sasuke's room like magazines, or clothes or CDs. In fact, the CDs were lined up neatly in a long rack in one corner of the room and all his clothes were probably in the closet next to the bed. She was struck by the similarity this room had with Sasori's room, except for the fact that there weren't any puppets here and that Sasori didn't have a computer this good. Maybe Sasuke and her cousin were siblings in their past lives. That would be cool.

Removing from her mind visions of Sasori and Sasuke growing up together, Sakura threw her messenger bar to the floor and slumped down on a dark blue bean bag chair. As if this had signaled that the others should take a seat, they all sat in various places of Sasuke's room, Deidara immediately taking up the swivel La-Z-boy at the computer desk. He could get used to this place. Sasuke didn't even notice the Akatsuki as he paced agitatedly about the room, a frown decorating his features. He didn't even look up when Hidan pointed to a guitar next to his bed and asked him quote dude, I though you only fucking sang unquote.

"He used to be the guitarist of Lithium", Sakura explained to the premature grey haired teen who just looked at her as if she was crazy. This kid was the guitarist of those ass hats Lithium? Who knew?

A few hours later, after they had eaten the lunch Sasuke's mother Mikoto had prepared for them, Ino advised Sasuke to get dressed and the younger Uchiha agreed absently.

The others tinkered with Sasuke's stuff until he got ready. Deidara took to the task of checking out all of his CDs on the computer and downloading some interesting songs to his iPod, Sakura and Tenten looking over his shoulder, Naruto and Hidan played Guitar Hero III on Sasuke's playstation while Shikamaru lazed on the bed. Ino and Hinata chose a decent outfit for Sasuke since his normal outfit of cargo pants and a polo shirt wouldn't do.

Finally, he was ready. He was dressed in semi-respectable clothing, a dark button down shirt unbuttoned to reveal a white T shirt and dark pants with converse. He absolutely refused to wear dress shoes or a tie, remarking that this was a date, not a black tie dinner party.

The kid does have some sense, yeah, Deidara thought at this.

Sasuke's hair was in its usual cockatoo style and ultimately, he looked mighty fine except for the dark scowl on his face.

"Now to decide where you take her", Ino said decisively. She was the master when it came to this sort of things.

"Uh, uh, uh, who said he would be taken her anywhere", Sakura broke in, looking up from her spot next to the computer, a shrewd grin on her face.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. What the hell? All this shit and he was not supposed to take her anywhere all along? The others looked just as surprised as he did so he reckoned that they hadn't know about this either. Trust Sakura to do this.

"What do you mean, Sakura?" Ino asked, puzzled.

"I mean that that is our role in this plain. To make sure that they don't go anywhere", Sakura said and Deidara smirked. That had been their idea. Even Itachi and Sasori blinked. They had not thought that Sakura was such a shrewd person. Maybe she was similar to Deidara after all.

A few blinks later, realization dawned on some of their faces. Sasuke sighed in relief. So he didn't have to take Karin anywhere. Thank God.

"Sakura, I like how you think", Tenten bumped fists with her, a grin on her face. Ino, Shikamaru and the rest seemed to have caught on too, except for…

"I don't (fucking) get what you're (fucking) saying, Sakura-chan (cherry bitch)", Hidan and Naruto said in unison and the others sweat dropped. Trust them to not understand the simplest of things.

"I meant that we are going to ruin Karin's date before it even happens", Sakura said, a devious grin on her face.

"Oh", Naruto and Hidan said and it wasn't long before grins formed on their faces too. Even Sasuke was smirking by then. He would do anything if it meant not having to spend a second longer with Karin than he had to and he already did too much of that in school. He just wished Sakura had told him sooner.

"Alright, guys. Let the good times roll!"

* * *

Alright, let the good times roll :P How did you like the chapter? Please bear with me if Sakura's revenge isn't exactly all that exciting since I haven't dealt with girls like Karin so I don't know how to get back at them. Really hope if the chapter was to your liking! Oh, and does anyone like Bleach? If so, can you tell me who your favorite characters are? It's my new fetish :D Anyways, review please!

Love,

Alistair.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Hey, Really sorry for the shamefully late update *bows profusely, a la Japanese* I've been really lazy and reading fanfics a lot and I'm currently working on a new one. Its first person and the main girl is obviously Saku-chan but I haven't decided on the guy thought I'm alternating between Itachi and Deidara and the setting is a boarding school. Ah, but don't be fooled, it's not your normal boarding school fic. I'm going to shut up now since I can't give away any more plot secrets ;) On a sadder note, the holidays end in just two days! NO! Thankfully, I'm entering tenth grade and rules won't be kept strictly for the first few days! (Hopefully) Now then, enough of my ranting and onto the story! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 12

The moment which Sasuke had been dreading had arrived. His butler (yes, he was so rich that he had a butler, a lot of butlers in fact) arrived into his room, bringing news of a guest −a young lady− for him. The butler's nose crinkled up delicately as he said the word 'lady', and Sasuke could only imagine what kind of eyesore was waiting outside his home. It had been a stroke of luck that his mother had chosen to visit some friends this evening or Sasuke wouldn't hear the end of it about Karin.

He dismissed the butler, telling him to inform Karin that he would join her shortly and to take a seat in the meantime.

He messed with his collar and turned to face the crazy people currently occupying his room, his eyes landing on the craziest of them all, the instigator, Sakura.

"Tell me again why exactly I'm doing this", he said, forehead creasing slightly.

"Because you love me", Sakura replied simply. "Now get out there, your _date_ is waiting", she winked slyly at him and tried to usher him out the door, the boy looking grave and sour.

On hearing this first comment, Deidara's knuckles clenched involuntarily and he gritted his teeth, his grip on the can of dye he was holding tightening.

So chibi Itachi and cherry were goo-goo eyed idiots? This was the first he had heard of it or seen any clue of it. That was just great, then. Just what did she see in that stupid brat? Was it because of his looks, and wealth? Or maybe even−

Wait, what did he care about who she was with? It was his business who she decided to date or whatever. Realizing the dangerous direction his thoughts were taken, he tore his eyes away from her and instead focused on one thought and one thought only.

He did not like Sakura, he did not like Sakura, he did not like Sakura, he did not li-

What the hell! She was actually tickling the brat now, trying to get him to loosen up. He should just go over there and beat the snot out of that kid for trying to get his gi−

Oh hell. He had not just thought what he thought he thought. He had not just thought of cherry –snarky, tomboyish cherry who he sure as hell _did not like_− as his girl.

'No, Deidara, dude, don't think it, yeah. Do not think it", he muttered under his breath. "Evil thought. Don't think it".

"What are you muttering on about Deidara?" he jumped, just to see his best friend peering down at him inquisitively, a ginger brow raised.

Deidara immediately calmed down. "Man Sasori, you almost gave me a heart attack, yeah", he breathed out. For a second there, he had thought that it was Sakura, which it could not be, because she was _still_ with the Uchiha brat.

At the expectant glance Sasori gave him, he simply shook his head and lied that it was nothing, just some new lyrics he had come up with. Sasori merely blinked, looking unconvinced, and took a seat next to him. Sasori would most definitely have his head if he had known what had been going through Deidara's head at that moment.

Deidara sighed and glanced at the doorway, where Sakura was laughing at a dour looking Sasuke. Why was it that his eyes always seemed to go to her? It was as if he had some kind of cherry-radar built into his brain, which was stupid, really.

"Deidara, get a grip on yourself. It's probably nothing", he thought to himself, trying to brush away those ridiculous thoughts about Sakura. It was probably because he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Yes, that was probably it.

But to his chagrin, the careful thoughts he had been building up came crumbling down as he glanced involuntarily in her direction. Something in his heart seemed to twist as she smiled at the Uchiha brat. Why couldn't it be him there? Why was it the Uchiha kid? What did he have that Deidara himself didn't? And worse, why did he care so much? Why couldn't he get her out of his head?

Why did it _hurt_ so much?

She caught his eye from the door and laughed at him, her nose scrunching up noticeably, and not to mention adorably. He thought it was cute.

Deidara groaned inwardly, the can of dye threatening to burst under the pressure he was giving it.

He was doomed.

* * *

Sasori watched his friend from next to him in curiosity. He knew he had been lying before, saying that he had been working on some lyrics. In fact, Sasori had managed to capture something along the lines of 'evil thought, don't think it'. What was even more intriguing and a tad disturbing was that his blonde friend had been literally scowling at the younger Uchiha as he conversed with Sakura. Sasori was not a fool. He knew that Deidara was attracted to his cousin, even though he himself seemed to be in denial of it and though Sasori did not exactly approve of Deidara's interest in Sakura, it was somewhat disconcerting to see him like this, obviously unsure of his feelings.

He knew that Deidara genuinely cared about her, unlike the way he usually treated his female companions, given the way that he had been worried when Sakura had disappeared that day. But still, Sasori wasn't entirely sure if he appreciated the notion of his best friend and cousin getting together. Moreover, before he could give his consent, Deidara himself needed to realize how he felt about her.

He stole a surreptitious glance at the blonde, who was looking uncharacteristically at a loss. The helpless expression almost brought a smile to Sasori's face. It had been a while since he had seen Deidara so unsure of himself and while it certainly was amusing, it was also a bit pitiful.

So maybe, just maybe, if the dolt realized his feelings for Sakura, Sasori would consider giving him a chance.

Sakura smiled to herself in satisfaction. She had succeeded in getting Sasuke to finally go out of his room and meet Karin and now she surveyed the teens in the room, all of whom looked excited –well, as excited as Sasori, Shikamaru and Itachi could get− except surprisingly Deidara. Her brow furrowed as she glanced in his direction. The usual confident smirk was gone from his face and he was not meeting her eyes, which was weird since when did Deidara ever _not_ appear confident? It was daunting to say the least and she actually felt a prick, a tint prick, of concern for him.

"Oi, blondie, time to roll", she said, raising an eyebrow at him. What was up with him?

"You guys get into your stations", she said to the others and they nodded. Deidara stood up silently and followed her out the room, still refusing to meet her eyes.

Sakura's brow furrowed. It was weird to see Deidara like this. It almost made her miss his usual jerky self when he was being so silent.

Her worry and irritation increased bit by bit as they walked along the small hallway leading to the maid's quarters. Finally having tolerated enough of Deidara's strange switch in personality, she turned back to him abruptly with hands her on her hips and a stern expression on her face, making him stop short.

"Alright Dei, what's going on?" she asked with a raised pink brow.

Deidara scowled mentally. Damn, she had noticed. With a bit of effort, he managed to produce a decent rendition of his usual smirk as he raised his head at her and met those abnormally green, but so damned pretty eyes of hers.

"What are you talking about, hmm?" he asked, barely managing to add most of his usual confidence and arrogance into the question.

Sakura's frown deepened. She saw through his facade easily. He actually had the nerve to fake it?

"Come on, Dei. I know you. Tell me what's going on. We have a job to do", she said impatiently.

Deidara grinned at her, a poor one when compared to his normal impish grin. "I told you, nothing's wr-", he didn't get to finish the sentence because she glared at him and took a few steps nearer to him, making him swallow and take a few steps back. He didn't need her to be near him right now. He didn't think he could handle it.

Sakura's eyes widened as he backed away. Was she seeing things or was Deidara actually _afraid_ of her, as ridiculous as that notion might be?

"Deidara, I thought you knew that I've known you long enough to know when you're lying?" she asked, her tone tinged with slight amusement. This was priceless. Deidara, bad boy and lead singer of Akatsuki was afraid of her. She took a few more steps nearer to him, enjoying his reaction, until he was backed up against the wall.

Deidara scowled at internally at himself. Why couldn't he just move? Why was he sitting there taking this like some kind of- of- _girl_? Just shove her away and get yourself together, his brain screeched at him but he just stood there, as if frozen, just staring into her eyes like some kind of idiot.

"Come on Dei-Dei, tell me", this time her tone was gentle and with a hint of concern. Deidara blue eyes widened. She was concerned… for him? After all, she was with the Uchiha brat. Why should she be concerned for him? He scowled, angry rippling through him at the thought. Inadvertently, his fists clenched at his sides.

Sakura stared at Deidara in perplexity. His whole demeanor had changed and he was glaring at her. His blue eyes were swirling with fury and another emotion that she was too scared to even contemplate. He was hurt… Why was it that she couldn't stand it that he was hurt? Why did her chest hurt when she looked into his gorgeous blue eyes, seeing the hurt there? She bit her lip anxiously, and tore her eyes away from Deidara's smoldering gaze, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for her thoughts but to her frustration, she came up with none. She raised her head up slowly, noticing only then how close they were. Her face was at the base of his neck and his sweet vanilla scent invaded her nostrils. She took in a few deep breaths of the comforting scent, trying to calm herself before speaking up again.

"Just tell me Deidara. I still have to help Sasuke and-", he words were cut off by Deidara grabbing her shoulders roughly. She squeaked in shock, unable to form words and just settling for glancing up at him, taking in the unmistakable fury in his eyes.

"Is that kid all you think about, hmm?" he hissed, his voice surprisingly contained for the level of anger. It was always about Sasuke. Why not _him_?

"W-What do you mean?" Sakura asked softly. If she was her usual self, she would have punched him already but the look on Deidara's face was intense. Too intense for her.

He sighed, his grip on her shoulders relaxing a fraction. She could feel his warm breath on the top of her head as he spoke.

"The Uchiha kid. Is he that important to you, yeah?" he asked, his electric tone of voice a bit shaky. Sakura blinked. Sasuke? What was he getting at?

"He's just a good friend. Why?" she questioned obliviously. First he was mad and now he was talking about Sasuke? What was the deal here?

Sakura's eyes widened as his hands slid down to capture her slim waist, much gentler than before. His head slid down to the crook of her neck and shoulder, settling there, his soft blonde hair tickling the parts of her skin that weren't covered by her jacket. She simply stood there, eyes wide and not having the slightest clue as to what she should say, her mind only on the fact that Deidara was actually hugging her voluntarily. She could feel his warm breath on her shoulder and her hands acted of their own volition as they wrapped themselves around him, her fingers clenching at the soft material of his plaid shirt.

Deidara felt an inexplicable sense of relief rush through him at her words. So he was just a friend huh? How stupid of him, jumping to conclusions so soon. Yet, he couldn't help the grin that overtook his features. Then, he mumbled something against her shoulder, making her cheeks flush a shade of pink even brighter than her hair.

He let her go, taking note of how soft and warm she had felt in his arms, so different from her personality. An easy smirk came to his lips when he noticed how red her face was.

"Oi, you said it yourself, yeah. We've got work to do so come on", he said, thankful to have regained his composure.

Sakura blinked at him. Looked like he was back to being himself. That was a relief but still she couldn't get out of her head what he had said only a few moments ago. Her face flushed even redder when she remembered it.

"_I'm glad to hear that, yeah"._

What was that supposed to mean? He was glad that she and Sasuke were just friends so did that mean that he liked her−

"Hey, you coming or not, yeah?" Deidara's voice knocked her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see him staring expectantly at her, his usual impish grin on his face. It was good to see that he was back to normal, but now, enough of delving into these feelings, they had work to do.

"Yeah", she said, a smile taking over her features.

"I'm coming".

* * *

Karin could hardly stop herself from bouncing as she sat on couch in the elegant lounge of Sasuke's house, taking in the surroundings of her obsession's house wholeheartedly. She couldn't believe this. Sasuke-kun had finally asked her out! Ha, what she would give to see the look on Sakura's face if she know.

With a very self satisfied look on her face, Karin fiddled with the hem of her dress, waiting for Sasuke to arrive, her mind entertaining different blissful thoughts about where he would take her. Dinner in an expensive restaurant? A romantic ferry ride? The possibilities seemed endless! Maybe, just maybe, she would get the chance to rav-

"Karin".

Karin's appalling train of thought was rudely interrupted by a deep, velvety voice.

"S-Sasuke-kun", she said, jumping up immediately, her eyes running hungrily over Sasuke's body, barely restraining herself from jumping him.

Sasuke did the very best to keep his face as neutral as possible, instead of turning heel and running for his life like he wanted to. What the hell was wrong with her, looking at him like he was something to eat? And what the fuck was she wearing? He could almost hear his mother instead his head, chastising him.

"Sasuke-kun?" Karin questioned. "Where are you going to take me?"

Sasuke stiffened immediately. Damn.

"Uh, there's been a change of plans. We will be having dinner here", he said and Karin's eyes widened from beneath her framed glasses. They were having dinner here? At his house? That was so unromantic! But in his house, there were bedrooms and it would be easier to-

Sasuke cleared his throat uncomfortably, not liking the look that had come over Karin's face. "Follow me", he said tersely and she obeyed him like a puppy as he led her to the dining hall.

Karin had been expecting a romantic candle lit dinner with her soul mate but her enthusiasm died down as soon as she saw that Sasuke's so-called 'dinner'. The dining room consisted of a long polished oak table with gleaming silverware heaped with loads of good food but it didn't help that Sasuke was seated at the far end of the table, the furthest away he could get from her.

Silently, she began to prod with her utensils at her entrée, lightly roasted duck with fennel and vegetable couscous while Sasuke simply ate his dinner, paying her no mind.

Meanwhile, in the Uchiha kitchens, two certain teens were contemplating (or more like arguing) on the best way to ruin Karin's night. The maids were watching them amusedly as they hissed frantically at each other.

"How about we just throw the food in her face, hmm", Deidara suggested with a grin and Sakura slapped a hand to her forehead exasperatedly.

"For the thousandth time Deidara, have you not heard of subtlety?" she questioned although his suggestion was not exactly an unwelcome one.

"Alright then, you decide if you're so smart. Just do it quickly, yeah. We still gotta rehearse for the show the day after tomorrow, hmm", Deidara said and Sakura swallowed somewhat sheepishly. Here he was, helping her (somehow, she didn't quite think of the rest of the Akatsuki) when he should be practicing for his biggest gig yet. Call her crazy but she felt almost guilty.

Deidara stared at her in confusion. What was she thinking?

She raised her head at him, a sheepish and slightly hesitant smile on her face. "Thanks", she said softly, hoping he would leave it at that.

But, unfortunately for her, he didn't. "For what, yeah?" he asked, not actually meaning to infuriate her. He simply didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about.

Sakura sighed in aggravation. Trust him to make this harder for.

"I mean for helping me today when you didn't have to", she said. "So, thank you", she grounded out, her cheeks a light pink.

Deidara smirked in understanding. So that was it. From the way she had hesitated, he had actually thought she was going to confess to him or something. Not that that would be such a bad thing.

"I'm awesome that way, yeah", he said imperiously and Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

The maids watched them in adoration. There were clearly sparks between the two of them, they were adorable. If only they would notice…

"Hey!" some of them jumped when the blonde haired kid turned his attention to them while Sakura watched him curiously. What was he going to do?

"You don't happen to have any extras of those uniforms do you, hmm?"

Karin had barely touched her dish. It was clear that Sasuke was not going to pay her any attention even though he was the one who had asked her out but she supposed it was already good enough that he had actually asked her out. It was a step.

Her mood lightened, she wolfed down her food, her appetite renewed. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in disapproval. She was getting too comfortable. He hoped that Sakura or someone would do something soon.

As if on cue, a girl with dark blonde hair wearing a maid's outfit appeared with a tray of dessert, a bright and somewhat smug smile on her face. Even though her hair was died and she was wearing a disguise, Sasuke immediately knew it was Sakura because of the fact that only she had those green eyes.

Still smiling, she walked over to him, much to the annoyance of Karin whom she had been nearer to, and handed him a glass of water, winking broadly at him. Karin's eyes narrowed from the other end of the table and Sasuke had to repress the smirk that threatened to overtake him as he downed his glass of water, thankful that he hadn't been offered dessert. He hated sweets of any kind.

He watched as the disguised Sakura slammed the dessert onto the table a bit too forcefully, enjoying the look of outrage on Karin's face. The look, however, morphed from outrage into disgust as she eyed her dessert, and Sasuke couldn't say that he blamed her. From what he could see, the ice cream was stale and somewhat smelly with a suspicious green glob on the top, complete with a rotten cherry.

"What the hell is this?!" Karin screeched so loudly that the others upstairs might've heard.

"What do you mean miss?" Sakura asked innocently, emphasizing the 'miss' part.

"This… thing!" the outraged redhead ground out. This was bordering abuse.

Before Sakura could reply, Sasuke cleared his throat, his face sporting a deadly glare.

"Why, Karin? Does my food displease you?" he intoned in a silkily dangerous manner.

Karin stiffened immediately, scared. "N-No, n-not at all S-Sasuke-kun", she whimpered as she, with a look of absolute disgust, took a bit of the disgusting treat. Sasuke could barely keep from snorting and Sakura would have exploded then and there if someone hadn't dragged her back to the kitchens.

"Oh God", she said from in between laughs. "The look on her face was priceless", she said gleefully.

"That, cherry, is why cameras exist, yeah", Deidara grinned triumphantly as he waved a camera containing a shot of a reluctant Karin downing a disgusting treat that he himself had invented.

"You. Are. Awesome", Sakura said, her face glowing, uncaring of the fact that he had just fed his ego a huge dose of ammo.

Now she looked intently into his blue eyes. "I was serious Dei, really, thank you", she said again, feeling an inexplicable gratefulness towards him.

At that, he smirked impishly. "Compensation, yeah", he said, pointing at his cheek. He himself wasn't sure if he was messing with her or whether he was really serious. He had a slight suspicion that it was the latter, but simply ignored it.

Sakura blushed hotly. She seemed to forget that he had been the one to instigate the hug, therefore forcing all these unknown feelings to her. So, she settled for bashing him one on the arm.

"Ow, hmm", he said. "What was that for?"

"For being an arrogant jerk", she replied, the red refusing to leave her cheeks.

"Come on. You know you love me, hmm", he grinned, thoroughly enjoying this… thing, whatever it was.

Sakura groaned exasperatedly.

Something told her that this was going to be a long night.

And they hadn't even got started yet.

* * *

Did you guys enjoy the chapter? Really hope you did. Was the DeiSaku scene okay? Or was it too OOC. But still, even bad boys like Dei-Dei are allowed to be vulnerable sometimes (or if more appropriately, jealous) Let me know what you thought by dropping me a review, it's like the latest trend, everyone's doing it ;) Below is a little question I'd like for you guys to answer, if you can.

Random question of the day: Define your favorite type of guy.

My answer: Deidara :D No, seriously, 'dangerous, fun, teasing, cares but doesn't show it (like the Deidara in my fic), if possible, hot, passionate about something, preferably music and tall.

Please review!

Love,

Alistair.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

*Writes letter to Santa-san* 'Dear Santa-san, as you probably already know, I've been very bad these past few days since I didn't update my story when I promised I would. So, for this Christmas, I won't ask for anything except that you send hugs and a motorcycle ride from Dei-Dei to all my readers who have been awesomely patient as early Christmas presents and hope that they forgive me. Arigato. –Ally-chan-'. Again, I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry everyone and that is why I'm updating when it it eleven here in SL. I hope you haven't abandoned this story.

As per usual, thanks a whole bunch for all the lovely reviews I got for the last chapter. You guys are the best. Love you all. And without further delay, except for the stupid disclaimer, here is the next installment of Battle of the Bands. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: No time for snarky comments. I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 13

To say that Karin was enjoying herself would be the biggest overstatement ever. She was not. Totally not. With what the fact that Sasuke was practically ignoring her and that she had actually eaten that horrible dessert –that nauseating taste of stale ice cream and repulsive goop thing was still lingering in her mouth− and that the maid that had arrived earlier had suspiciously looked a lot like Sakura, except with blonde hair, her night had been ruined. Just when she was so excited about having an amorous night with Sasuke-kun too, fate just had to screw with her life.

Through disappointed eyes, she eyed her 'date' surreptitiously. He seemed to be fiddling with his phone.

"_Get her to go into your room",_ Sasuke read to himself, his left eye twitching almost imperceptibly. Sakura actually expected him to take this, this… _girl _into his room, the place where he rested, the place where he had spent almost half the time of his life in? As if she was intruding enough, coming into his house, _hell_, breathing the same _air_ as him, but to take her into his _room_, his _sanctuary_?

"Are you insane?" he typed back, steadfastly ignoring Karin's nosy gaze. Thank heaven she couldn't see him from that far. It didn't take more than a minute for him to get a reply.

"_Come on Sasuke, do you want her out of your life or not?"_ he could almost feel her sighing as she typed that sentence. Persuasiveness had always been a strong point of Sakura's.

He sighed heavily. He did want her out of life and he had promised Sakura that he would help her carry out this insane plan. Granted, that had been when he was angry that she had been hurt but still, Uchihas didn't go back on their words. Almost laughably, Courage the Cowardly dog's catchphrase entered his mind that moment, eliciting a small smile from him.

The things he did for love… Not that he loved Sakura or anything; he amended his thoughts rather quickly, sighing at the ridiculousness of this whole ordeal.

"Fine", he texted back and got an immediate reply with an array of different kissy faces. After rolling his dark eyes at Sakura's childishness, he raised them to Karin's interested ones.

"Who was that?" she asked pryingly.

"No one of your concern", Sasuke shot back scathingly and she fell silent at once. She didn't understand why he was treating her so horribly when he himself had insisted on this date. It almost made her want to just quit while she was ahead and go back home but then again, she had always been a persistent one.

"Follow me Karin", his quiet voice broke her out of her thoughts and Karin lifted herself from off her chair and followed Sasuke obediently as he lead her out of the dining hall and up a large stairway.

Her initial enthusiasm emerged once again as Sasuke lead her to what was undoubtedly his room. If it was any other girl, they would have wondered whether it was too soon to sleep with someone on the first date, but not Karin. Why? Because she was _Karin _and had the intelligence of a dead, fungus ridden jellyfish. Sasuke sensed her enthusiasm as they stepped into his room and smirked, guessing what she was anticipating. Too bad, knowing what Sakura was like, she wouldn't get it.

He winced unnoticeably as she flopped down on _his_ bed, crossing one leg over the other, giving him a decent view of her thighs. Shame, he didn't want to see them.

"Stay here. I'll be back", Sasuke spoke, trying and failing to hide his smirk, and walked out of the room.

Karin giggled to herself happily. "Sasuke-kun, you had better be ready for the night of your life", she thought with a perverse grin. She pushed the top of her tiny black tube dress even lower, giving anyone an ample view of her cleavage. Deciding that she needed to freshen up a bit, she grabbed her clutch and walked into the bathroom, checking herself in the mirror.

"I'm so sexy, it's no wonder Sasuke-kun wants me", she thought conceitedly as she re-applied entirely too much kohl as well as copious amounts of lipstick.

"Now where is that foundation?" she wondered, lowering her head from the mirror and digging around in her zebra-striped clutch. Then, the sound of someone breathing reached her ears. Pausing her rummaging, she turned and looked around. There was no one in sight. Shrugging, she turned back to her bag. Again, the sound came, noticeably louder this time.

Now slightly afraid, Karin closed her bag and held it away from her body, to use as a weapon if necessary. This time, the sound didn't stop. Instead, it became louder with each passing second. A rasping sound, as if someone had difficulty in breathing. Gulping, Karin strained her ears. The noise seemed to be coming from the direction of the bathtub, which was enclosed by shower curtains.

Now, if Karin was a sensible and normal person who watched slasher movies, she would know that this scenario was most definitely trouble, but since she was Karin and didn't know that slasher movies existed, much less watched The Shining and other psychological thrillers, she stupidly edged closer to the tub, taking small tentative steps.

As she neared it, the sounds became louder and a gruesome chuckling sound emanated from the large bathtub. Heart in her throat, Karin neared the tub, her clutch raised at the ready in one hand and used the other to throw open the shower curtains, her eyes closed.

She opened them.

And screamed.

There, lying in the bathtub, were two people. One was laying face up, weird squiggles all over his skin and had blonde hair and appeared to be unconscious. The other was on top of him, with silver hair and he was grinning, a knife glinting in one hand. Karin screamed even louder as he looked at her, almost quizzically. His whole face was black, save for his eerily white teeth and purple eyes. He laughed maniacally, emanating an evil aura.

"Care to join us, bitch?" he asked her with a lecherous grin.

"Oh God!" Karin screeched and skedaddled out of the bathroom and into Sasuke's room, yelling crazily all the way. (Lol, skedaddle, always wanted to use that word)

Tripping over furniture, she made it to the door and flung it open, ready to bolt out of this mad house only to see Sasuke.

Her eyes tearing from relief, she flung her arms over his neck and sobbed. Not the quiet, dignified, tears only kind, but the loud messy ones. Sasuke cringed, resisting the urge to push her away but since boys, much less Uchihas, didn't hurt girls, even the disgustingly ugly ones like the girl who had thrown herself onto him, he opted to grab her arms and untwine her from his body. Once she was a safe distance away, he asked what the hell was wrong with her.

"S-Sasuke-kun, b-bathroom, murderer, k-knife", she stammered from in between her sobs.

With an inward smirk, Sasuke noticed she looked a hell of a lot like a raccoon, with all that mascara and liner trailing over her cheeks, leaving dark trails. "Are you insane?" he asked, trying his best to keep on the impassive face that Uchihas were so famous for.

"I-It's true, h-he was trying to k-kill someone in there!" Karin was now indignant, her sobs getting louder each second.

Rolling his eyes and curiously wondering what Sakura and the rest had done, he walked into his room, Karin at his heels. As he reached for the doorknob, he felt Karin tugging at his sleeve. A scowl on his face, he turned to her. "What?"

"S-Sasuke-kun, be careful", she squeaked and Sasuke smiled slightly. At least there was an inkling of good in her, he thought, but that thought was immediately crushed when she mumbled something under her breath which was suspiciously (and disgustingly) along the lines of not being able to bear if she wouldn't be able to sleep with him before he died. Shallow bitch.

"Don't worry", he bit out in annoyance and opened the door and walked inside. Nothing seemed to be out of place, just as he had expected. Just for appearances, he asked Karin where she had seen this supposed murderer and she pointed shakily to his bathtub.

She watched from the doorway with frightened eyes as Sasuke threw open the shower curtains with a flourish, only to see an empty bathtub.

"There's no one here", he deadpanned and Karin sputtered.

"B-But, t-there was!" she appealed. She had seen that maniac with her own eyes!

Sasuke gave her a very deprecating look consisting of a downturned mouth and a raised brow and she silenced. Maybe she had been seeing things after all…

"You should get cleaned up", Sasuke said wryly as he lead her out of the room and in the direction he knew Ino and Tenten would be. He gave his room a once over and glanced at his closet. With a smirk, he closed the door, the sound reverberating around the room.

From inside the closet, Hidan and Naruto high-fived each other.

* * *

Sakura and Deidara snickered as they watched Karin having the scare of her life. With Sakura's hair dyed blonde, and the same facial expressions, they looked scarily alike, like they could be siblings.

"They're heading in Ino and Tenten's direction", Shikamaru pointed out, inclining his head at one screen which showed Sasuke and Karin walking along a hallway, the latter looking so miserable that Sakura almost felt sorry for her. Keyword, almost. She still held enough anger for the redhead that could curb stomp her for hours on end and then feed her to rabid squirrels and not feel a bit of guilt.

They were in the Uchiha manor's security room, which contained footage of different parts of the manor recorded by security cameras fixed all throughout Sasuke's home.

She smiled to herself. Having Shikamaru and Sasori monitor the security cameras had been a stroke of genius on her cousin's part. Now they knew the exact position of Karin and the rest of their team.

"Saso-kun, can you show me where Ino and Tenten are?" Sakura asked, leaning over her cousin's seat.

Sasori nodded and his fingers flew over a keyboard for a just few seconds and then another screen blinked to life, the security camera where the girls were showing Tenten and Ino dressed as maids, eagerly awaiting their turn to terrorize Karin. Who knew Sasori was such a whiz with computers?

Sakura cackled evilly as she texted the girls, telling them that Karin was on her way.

She received an immediate reply from Ino.

"We'll have her ready and then it's all up to you Saks", it read.

Sakura smirked at Deidara, who was reading the text from over her shoulder, his liner-smeared blue eye glistening roguishly.

"Yeah, text me when you're done", she wrote back and flipped her phone shut before flopping down on a swivel La-Z-boy (there sure seemed to be a lot of those) next to the boys.

"Guys, I want this all on videotape, 'kay?", she said, whirling in her chair with her fingers interlaced on her stomach like some kind of criminal mastermind, eagerly anticipating the moment she would face Karin.

They agreed, Deidara even grounding out a childish and somewhat sarcastic 'hai, taichou, hm' with a roll of his eyes.

"And now, we wait".

* * *

Karin shuffled after Sasuke apprehensively, shooting paranoid glances in every direction, expecting the deranged silver haired guy with a knife to jump out at her at any time now, screaming bloody murder.

She still couldn't understand how he could have disappeared like that. He had been in the tub, she had seen him with her own freaking eyes, but he had just vanished into thin air along with that blonde kid that looked weirdly familiar. It was confounding, to say the least. Everything about this night had been weird, first with Sasuke wanting to stay at the manor for their date, then the horrible treatment he had given her coupled with the idiotic maid that looked suspiciously like Sakura and the manic murderer. It made her feel like she was in some hidden camera show or something (Ha!).

Sighing, she wallowed in the sad fact that her date with Sasuke had not at all gone according to plan. She had planned to dazzle him with her gorgeous looks and ravage him in the night while listening to classical music and to hear his screams of pleasure (*gag*- she isn't called a whore for nothing people) but no, fate had to just screw with her and ruin her plans. Her initial plan at gloating at Sakura afterwards disappeared entirely, replaced by crushing disappointment that she hadn't been shagged by Sasuke and so had nothing to gloat about.

Still, she had one more chance to make things right and make her ultimate Sasuke-obsessed fantasy come true. After freshening up, she was going to do Sasuke somehow, demented axe murderers or not.

The resolute feeling in her heart became even stronger as Sasuke ushered her into a room that contained many tall wardrobes and an ornate dresser topped with different sorts of cosmetics and an array of different beauty products. It was any girly girl's dream place. The two raven haired maids standing there smirked when they saw her but Karin didn't notice. Instead, she was wholeheartedly engrossed in checking out the various heady perfumes on display.

Sasuke smirked knowingly at Ino and Tenten before informing Karin to freshen up quick and left the room.

"You can go wait in the dressing room", one maid said, pointing to a door at one of the corners of the room. "We'll bring in some outfits in for you", the other added, cornflower blue eyes glinting oddly but as per the usual, Karin didn't notice.

Excited to try on an amazing outfit (which in her case consisted of altogether too-tight tube top, a skirt so short it could have passed for a belt and boots), Karin did as she was told, refraining from complaining for once in her life.

The two girls smirked at each other victoriously as Karin walked in the direction of the so-called dressing room.

"One", they both counted under their breath.

"Two", Karin reached the door.

She opened it.

"Three!" Ino and Tenten cried out gleefully as Karin opened the door. Karin swung around to demand was what going on but before she could utter a single word−

SPLAT!

A bucket full of vile rotten egg purée fell splat onto Karin, drenching her from head to toe in vile egg slime. Talk about gross.

At first, the redhead didn't make a sound, just stood there covered in yellowish slime, a pungent stench emanating from her body as egg gunk dripped over her head and onto the spick and span floor as she stared in openmouthed horror.

Then, two things happened at once. One was Karin screeching at Tenten and Ino as they removed their wigs and laughed at the spectacle of the enraged slime sodden redhead spitting furiously and the other was the door opening and Sakura walking in, pink hair and all as she grinned a cheek splitting grin.

Karin's red eyes bulged from under her black framed glasses.

"You!" she howled. "You did this!"

The grin didn't move from its place in Sakura's lips as she answered.

"Bravo Karin. Kudos to you for figuring it out", she said, making Karin glare even deeper, if that was actually possible.

"You'll pay for this you little bitch!" she spat out, and Sakura's grin widened even further.

"Uh uh uh, Kar-bitch, I'm afraid that won't be possible. You see, we got security cameras fixed all over the place and if you breathe a word about this to anyone, say bye-bye to your precious reputation", Sakura said, gesturing to the security camera in the corner of the ceiling. Karin went as pale as a sheet. If anyone in school found out about this, she would be in for the embarrassment of her life.

"So, so that crazy ass guy and this whole thing, it was your idea?" Karin asked.

"Right again Karin. I see you've gotten a bit brighter".

Karin fumed. "What the hell is your problem?! You're crazy. You've ruined my date with Sasuke-kun, y-you, you whore!" Karin sputtered inarticulately, her anger rising.

All traces of humor disappeared from Sakura's face and her emerald eyes hardened. "I'm not the one who's crazy or a whore here Karin or did you forget what you did to my hair?" she asked coldly, fingering a piece of her pink locks and Karin blushed.

"And don't even get me started on who the whore here is, whore. You just want Sasuke because of his looks. You've never once thought about him as a person with a personality, just another handsome face for admiration and you wonder why he's so cruel to you. I have a piece of advice for you: look before you leap, or more appropriately for this case: talk before banging. Just be thankful I didn't do to you what you did to me", Sakura intoned seriously and a flicker of guilt seemed to pass over Karin's slimy features before it dissolved into her usual look of haughtiness.

"Wait till Sasuke-kun hears of what you've done", Karin said weakly, not actually believing in her own statement and her assumption was proven to be correct when Sakura laughed.

"You think Sasuke isn't in on this too? Karin, get over yourself, he doesn't like you", Sakura said unsympathetically.

It seemed that that was the last straw for Karin. She broke down into sobs, surprising the other three girls.

"B-But, you don't u-understand. I-I've liked Sasuke-kun f-for so long a-and I've t-tried so hard but still h-he h-hates me and y-you've gotten h-him so effortlessly", she stuttered in-between sobs and a shocked look took over Sakura's face.

"Gotten Sasuke? What do you mean? I don't even like him that way", she said, rolling her eyes.

Karin didn't seem to take note of her reply because she just kept on crying. Sakura sighed. No matter what, she wasn't heartless and therefore, she couldn't not admit that Karin's sobs got to her, even if it was just a little bit.

"Look Karin. If you just try to be his friend, I'm sure he'll learn to like you", she almost flinched as she said that. She didn't believe her own proclamation but she couldn't just stand there watching her cry.

Karin's features softened and she looked like she was about to say something meaningful when Deidara burst in.

"Oy, cherry, are you done? Rehearsal's on in a few hours and−", he paused to sniff, flipping his blonde bang off his face. "What stinks here, hmm?"

Sakura, Ino and Tenten all laughed while Karin tried to look snooty but failed and blushed as red as her hair.

"What, yeah?" Deidara asked but the girls ignored him.

"So, as I was saying, _any –_and I mean any− word of this and the video goes out to the whole school, facebook, as well as YouTube", Sakura was back to business.

"Yeah, I got you the first time forehead", Karin huffed, wiping away her tears discreetly. "But don't think for a moment that this over okay?" she stated, a confident smirk on her lips, thoroughly contrasting her egg goop sodden state.

Sakura smirked back and snorted. "In your dreams, now take a bath, you stink".

And so, KKDM was all done, ending with laughs, tears and rivalry as Karin, after showering of course –but the egg stench didn't quite vanish−, exited the Uchiha Manor on slightly better terms with Sakura and Sasuke and the Akatsuki departed for rehearsal, leaving Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Ino and Tenten alone (except for all the maids and butlers) in the Manor.

"So", Sakura said, a grin on her face.

"Who's up for pizza?"

* * *

Whoa, I'm glad this chapter is now officially out of the way. It was such a pain to write and I just had to like force myself to write it, that's why I couldn't update for a while. I don't have firsthand experience with this sort of thing so I hope that KKDM was at least a tiny bit entertaining, if not totally lame to you. Sorry if it bored you :( I don't quite know when the next update will take place because tenth grade is seriously annoying and my parents are bugging me to study but I'll try to post it up within two weeks. Oh and there is a poll on my profile about another story so please check it out. That being said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review to let me know what you thought.

Oh, and this fic is hereby re-titled Caught in a Riff.

Love,

Alistair.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Hey to you all, I know this update is one day past the deadline and I'm really sorry but real life caught on. Thanks for your reviews, they made me smile :) Wanna remind you all again to vote on my poll. Check it out, it's on my profile. Today is the day of the much anticipated (in my case) concert, and (I really really hope it's to your liking) revelation of why Sasuke despises Itachi.

This chapter is dedicated to the awesome jojo507, who has been a super duper friend as well as a reviewer. This is for you for being there to listen to (or rather read in this case) my ramblings and complaints and for making me laugh! You're amazing =)

That being said, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto and me no own the songs. They belong to Green Day, Virgos Merlot, and Our Lady Peace, respectively :)

Chapter 14

Kakashi eyed his students surreptitiously over the top of his book as he leant against his desk, observing them work, his indolent dark grey eye focusing on two people in particular, a smile creeping its way over his lips under his mask. One of his best students seemed to be in a heated whispered argument with another of his slightly more troublesome students. By troublesome, Kakashi didn't mean that the student was incompetent in any way, it was just that she had a knack for infuriating people and getting into trouble. Indeed, Sasuke looked like he was in quite the discussion with his pink haired friend.

Said pink haired teenager meanwhile was muttering under her breath.

Sakura had been trying all this time, to no avail, to get Sasuke to agree into coming with them to the concert this evening. Whatever problem he had with Itachi, couldn't he just set it aside for one day? Just one day?

"Please Sasuke? I'll never ask anything of you ever again?" she tried one more time. God knows how many times she had said that to him.

"No", the raven-haired teen's tone was bland. He simply focused on his work, ignoring the exasperated girl next to him.

"Sasuke…" she started apprehensively. "Is this because of… Itachi?"

The look Sasuke shot her was enough to melt concrete and keep her mouth shut for the remainder of school. It reminded her of the time they had been fighting and she didn't want to have to face a situation like that again and so, didn't speak of the matter again. But still, that didn't mean that she wasn't curious about the reason. Determined to find out why exactly Sasuke hated Itachi so much, Sakura made her way to the Akatsuki's usual parking space where she spotted Sasori's beloved mustang, Itachi's gleaming Camarro and Deidara's beast of a motorcycle parked with the teens getting ready to go back home.

Deidara saw her first and beamed his usual roguish grin. Cherry was looking mighty fine in a dark red off-the-shoulder top, with a black form fitting tank underneath, miniskirt, black stockings and converse high tops.

"Hey cherry, all set for the concert tonight, yeah?" he asked her while the others nodded at her in acknowledgement. Kisame and Tobi were there too and they both grinned at her. Well, at least Kisame grinned at her, it was hard to see whether Tobi was because of his mask and all.

"Actually, yeah. That's a part of what I'm here about", Sakura answered absently and turned her attention to the person she wished to speak to the most at the moment. Deidara and Sasori followed her gaze and identical glimmers of surprise flickered in their blue and mahogany eyes simultaneously. Why on earth did Sakura want to talk with Itachi?

Deidara felt something inexplicable stirring in the depths of his stomach and growled softly at himself. Surely, he was not getting _possessive_? No, he brushed that thought away as soon as it entered his head. Possessive? Over cherry? He almost snorted. That was just ridiculous.

"Itachi-san, do you think I could ask you something?" Sakura asked tentatively, slightly afraid to breach such a sensitive subject, if Sasuke's reluctance to speak of it was something to go on.

Itachi tilted his head to the side a fraction of an inch, the almost imperceptible action telling her to go on.

Sakura took in a deep breath and let it out.

"I want to know why Sasuke hates you so much".

If Itachi was surprised, he didn't show it. Instead, he simply stared at Sakura with the poker face he and Sasuke were seemed to be quite adept at but thanks to Sakura's experience in dealing with the younger Uchiha, she caught the subtle tensing of his lips and the barely visible conflicted expression in his eyes, which meant he was uneasy about the particular subject she was broaching. The rest of the boys, even the ever-cheerful Tobi were looking disturbed and on edge and Sakura wondered whether she shouldn't have said something.

After what seemed an eternity, Itachi sighed.

"As you wish", he answered softly and Sakura nodded seriously.

"So I suppose I should come with you guys then", she said and the rest agreed, although reluctantly, with uncomfortable looks on their faces.

Mere minutes later, after slightly guiltily saying goodbye to Naruto, Sasuke and the rest, telling them that she was going to hang with her cousin, which wasn't _exactly_ a lie, Sakura found herself in the passenger seat of Itachi's car, Kisame and Hidan in the back while Sasori drove Tobi and Deidara glided alongside their cars. The ride was silent, the teens' moods grave and somber. Even Deidara didn't perform any of his usual tricks and drove unenthusiastically and his usually flamboyant long hair hung flaccidly at his back instead of flowing in the wind.

They took her to their usual meeting place, Deidara's and Sasori's apartment. The place was familiar to the Akatsuki as it was to Sakura, considering how much time all of them had spent in here and they settled down quickly, the tension between them almost palpable.

Itachi sighed heavily, looking so unusually tense that Sakura felt sorry for him. If it was bothering Itachi so much, it had to be a truly grave matter.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me if you don't do", she started gently but Itachi shook his head.

"No, you should know why Sasuke is the way he is", he said, sounding so sad that Sakura felt horrible for even breaching this subject. She should really have kept her big mouth shut and just-

Her musings were interrupted by Itachi.

"You should know what kind of a person I really am".

* * *

Sakura sighed heavily as she sorted through the clothes on her bed for something to wear for the concert a short while later. Absently combing through her assortment of clothes, she felt her mind drift back to what Itachi had revealed to her just a little while ago.

It had happened two years ago.

Itachi had just gotten his learner's permit a few weeks ago and he had been driving, his father in the passenger seat since he still wasn't allowed to drive without an adult present. He had just gotten back from a minor gig with Akatsuki and his father had been watching. His father watching Akatsuki's shows always put Itachi in a bad mood since Fugaku didn't approve of him being in a band and chastised him endlessly about it.

That day had been no different. His father had been raving about how his 'association' with those 'boys' gave the Uchiha company a bad name. Itachi usually never spoke back to his father but that day, he had just snapped. He had started yelling at his father about how he controlled his life and how he was never allowed to pursue anything he wanted to and none of the two Uchihas had been paying attention to the road. When they had seen the fast approaching van, headlights flaring and the driver frantically trying to hit the brakes, it was already too late…

Miraculously, Itachi had survived, with a few scars and broken bones though his father had passed away on the spot. Sakura had badly regretted asking him but then, it had been too late to take back her words.

Sakura winced audibly as an imagined scene played in her mind, complete with life size figures of Itachi and her imagined version of his dad. The headlights flashing, horns blaring, frightened faces of people… It all brought back memories that she rather fervently wished to forget. It all made her wish that she had never asked Itachi that stupid question in the first place. God knew how hard it was for him to talk about it though he had never once wavered.

He must have had sensed her confusion because he even explained that the only reason he hadn't quit Akatsuki after that ordeal was because his mother had insisted that he didn't and had told him to continued doing what he loved. He had seemed so regretful then and Sakura had sadly offered her condolences, which he had quietly accepted and told him that he shouldn't ever think that it was his fault. But, she supposed, the damage was already done. Itachi would forever think of himself as the reason his father died and Sasuke would forever blame him for it.

Memories she didn't want to dredge up surfaced in her mind. Memories of her father, his kindness, his sense of humor, his face smiling at her in his hospital bed, all those horrible tubes attached to his body…

It almost made her want to drop all plans for the night and just stay home and mope but years of moping had proved to her that the action did absolutely nothing except rub salts in her wounds so she pushed away all thoughts of death and depression out of her mind and concentrated on happy thoughts.

She decided on an outfit and thrust her cell phone and wallet into her pockets and draped her messenger bag over her shoulder.

Her mum was at work so Sakura proceeded to write a note explaining her whereabouts, lock all doors and windows and take the key before texting Naruto and hailing a cab to his apartment.

Ino, Naruto, Tenten, Hinata, Neji and Shikamaru were all there, dressed in accordance to the green, red and black themes of Akatsuki and Green Day combined, as she herself was. The seven of them acutely noticed the absence of Sasuke but none of them chose to comment on it. Instead they chattered amongst themselves as the rode in Naruto's jeep to the concert.

The site of the concert was an enormous outdoor ground. The ground was protected by security personnel and the teens flashed their tickets before they allowed them to pass.

The area was swarmed with so much people that it was practically impossible to squeeze into a good spot. Sakura cursed as people stomped repeatedly on her toes as she and the gang struggled to get near the stage, which was decorated with a black, red and green theme with huge amplifiers on both corners.

Suddenly, the roars of the crowd got deafening as they finally reached the front of the stage after many apt curse words, foot stomps and shoving.

"We're Green Day from Oakland, California!" Billie Joe yelled into the mike and the fans screamed their hearts out.

The fans sang along with Billie, yelling themselves hoarse as the band started into Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

_I walk a lonely road_

_The only one that I have ever known_

_Don't know where it goes, but it's home to me_

_And I walk alone._

_I walk this empty street_

_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams_

_Where the city sleeps_

_And I'm the only one and I walk alone_

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me_

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating_

_Sometimes I wish I wanna verify me_

_Till then I walk alone._

Funny, she thought. The song was the personification of all the feelings that had been threatening to engulf her since Itachi had told her about his father but ironically, Sakura could feel the grief that had been threatening to resurface wear out slowly but surely. Music always made her feel better, no matter what the meaning of the lyrics were. It was like her own personal high.

At that moment, swaying and screaming there in the midst of other swaying and screaming people, Sakura felt a strange sense of peace overtake her. Her worried were all put away for sometime later as she just left herself drift along with the music that she loved.

The band changed into another song almost as unexpectedly as the change of her mood.

"This one's called Warning".

The crowd hollered.

_This is a public service announcement_

_This is only a test_

_Emergency evacuation protest_

_May impair your ability to operate machinery_

_Can't quite tell just what it means to me_

_Keep out of reach of children  
Don't you talk to strangers_

_Get your philosophy from a bumper sticker_

_Warning, live without Warning._

By the time Green Day had launched their selves through a few more songs including American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia, Longview, Waiting and Basket Case, Sakura felt positively elated and could kiss Sasori for buying Naruto these tickets.

Speaking of Sasori, she wondered when Akatsuki would make their big stage debut. As if reading her thoughts, Green Day paused in between two songs and the crowd quieted down just enough for them to catch his words.

"As much as we'd like to play more for you guys right now, there's a new band up here for the biggest gig of their lives yet", Billie explained and the minority of the crowd that knew of Akatsuki cheered loudly, Sakura included.

"Give it up for Akatsuki!" he roared into the mike and Tre Cool did a little drum roll and the crowd cheered as Akatsuki walked on to the stage, confident as you please, as if they'd lived on the stage for all their lives. Sakura could see them clearly from her spot in the front and cheered wildly.

Itachi's dark hair was loose and he was sporting red contacts. It was weird seeing him like that after he revealed the details of his father's death but Sakura didn't want the evening to be spoilt and tried her utmost to be normal and greeted him with a smile.

Sasori was sporting his dark brown wig and blue contacts. If not for the fact that Sakura knew him to be her cousin, she would not have recognized him so quickly.

Hidan's distinct silver hair was dyed an electric blue, coupled with the purple eyes, made him look intense. Instead of his hair being slicked back like it was at school, it was slightly mussed. She had to admit that it made him look even better. He greeted her with a grin and what might have been some cheerful profanities if she could hear him.

Last of all, was Deidara, who looked the least bit disguised. His blond hair was loose and cascaded over his shoulders and his icy blue eyes were shimmering with barely suppressed excitement. They seemed to flicker with mischief and anticipation as they landed on her.

All four teens were wearing black and red but each in their own unique styles.

Deidara was sporting a dark red tank which showed off his lean but still muscular body along with a snug leather jacket with its sleeves rolled up and black fingerless gloves. Silver dog tags dangled at his chest and he donned dark skinny jeans along with combat boots. His fender was strapped to his chest.

He smirked at Sakura as he noticed her checking him out. He looked confidently good looking.

He had to admit that she herself looked juicy with a blast of colors with a form fitting white t-shirt with sleeves up to the elbow with a snug sleeveless faded red and black plaid shirt on top, black shorts and black stockings along with green converse high tops. She had tried to dress according to both Akatsuki's and Green Day's colors. She waved at him and whistled merrily.

He grinned back full force. Cherry had looked a bit sad and disconcerted back when Itachi had revealed to her the truth and it was true that he might have been a _little_ worried about her but now, peering into her emerald eyes and finding nothing but elation and her usual craziness in them, he felt relieved.

Wait, what? He felt _relieved_? For what? Because cherry didn't look sad? Why the− Deidara shook his head slightly as he told himself that now was not the time to dwell on whatever he had with Sakura. They had bigger things at hand now, say for instance, the massive crowd that was sending piercing stares at them, wanting to find out whether they were worth their money or not. Deidara smirked; he'd show them.

Green Day went backstage as the teens took their places, Sasori behind his drum set, Hidan and Itachi with their guitars over their necks and Deidara smirking from over the mike, his hands positioned at his black fender.

The crowd watched in anticipation as the teens stared into their first song. The girl next to Sakura screeched in her ear, asking what the band was and Sakura screeched back 'Akatsuki!' along with an ear splitting grin. The crowd quickly warmed up to the band as Deidara started on the vocals.

_Here I am again  
Gonna cure the common cold_

_End world hunger and get my movie sold_

_Gonna teach the world to sing_

_Give em all a hand_

_Gonna solve their problems and_

_Gonna take a stand_

_I look around, come back down_

_Try to rearrange it once again_

_You hold your own nose to the stone_

_You got it and you don't know what it is_

_Would you gain?_

_Time after time it's the same old wrong_

_Change and you change it's the same old song_

"These guys are fucking great!" the same girl grinned at Sakura as she sang along the words she had picked up just now.

"I know!" Sakura said, smirking. "That dude on the vocals has a flipping voice", the girl yelled to be heard over the cheers that Akatsuki were gaining and Sakura bobbed her head.

Deidara, or rather Kei's voice _was_ good. And the song was pretty great too. She caught his eye and beamed happily.

His stunning blue eyes transfixed on her, Deidara and Akatsuki changed into another song, one that Sakura recognized called One Man Army−

_Take these plastic people_

_Read their lips, now let it linger_

_Is there anything that makes them sound sincere?_

_Come on, tightly hold your hand_

_Take a deep breath, give them the finger_

_Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite clear?_

_Twitch_

_Overlooked, unfit appearance_

−and did something that she never would have expected to happen in a million years.

He gestured for her to join him up on stage. A bold move for someone's first show.

Sakura gawped and the words 'Are you fucking crazy?' had almost left her traitorous mouth before she remembered that here, she didn't know Deidara and should act like an enthusiastic fan.

With the help of the crowd, she found herself on top of the stage, along with Deidara. Hidan and Itachi both smirked at her and she pointedly ignored Sasori's laser eyed gaze from behind the drum set as she gazed at Deidara, whose eyes were an alluring mixture of danger and mischief.

He played true to his part and asked for her name as he lowered the mike to her level.

"Sakura!" she said into the mike and grinned as the crowd laughed and cheered. She was sort of liking this.

"Do you guys want Sakura here to sing the next verse, yeah?!" Deidara utterance of her given name surprised her more than the fact that he had practically asked her to sing in front of a massive crowd. Her named rolled out of his mouth effortlessly and she had to make a conscious effort not to blush.

The crowd responded with a chorus of yes' and she looked questioningly at Deidara, who for once, smiled –not smirked, not grinned nor sneered, simply smiled at her like she _mattered_- and it was so surprising and so _welcome_ that she didn't think twice before both of them pressed their faces closer to the mike and just sang. Sang as the band played and sang as the crowd cheered. Sang as they tried their utmost to figure out their feelings for each other. Sang as if no one else but them mattered in that moment.

_Falling, I remember falling_

_I remember marching_

_Like a one man army_

_Through the blaze I know I'm coughing_

_I believe in something_

_I don't wanna remember falling_

_I remember crawling_

_Through the blaze I know I'm coughing_

_I remember marching_

_I don't wanna remember falling_

_I don't wanna remember falling_

_For your lies._

Sang, as they realized that someday, they were going to be the absolute death of one another.

And right then, singing as if they were one as she smiled at Deidara through the corner of her lips, she had an inexplicable, uncanny feeling that things _were going to be okay_.

* * *

Once again, sorry sorry sorry for not fulfilling the deadline, I was so caught up in school work and the unfairness of life in general *insert rant here*. _Anyways_, hope you liked the chapter. Green Day, of course, sang their own songs, and the first song that Akatsuki performs is Gain by Virgos Merlot and the second is One Man Army by Our Lady Peace. Both of the songs are flipping so I recommend you to listen to them. Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter through reviews :)

P.S I know that Itachi is almost five years older than Sasuke, but for all intents and purposes of this fic, he is just two years older. Savvy? Savvy, I love that word. Jack Sparrow…

Random QOTD: What is your favorite Green Day song? For those who don't listen to Green Day (as hard as that is to process), who do you find more attractive, shy, sensitive guys, or cheerful, dangerous and impulsive ones? Of course, you can answer both questions of you like :D

My answer: I have a lot of favorite Green Day songs but Jesus of Suburbia, Minority, Warning, and Longview take the cake :D and I prefer impulsive and cheerful guys.

Love,

Alistair.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Hello everyone! Thank you for all the awesome, lovely reviews I got. I can't believe this story got past fifty reviews. Thank you guys so so so much! I love you all. Mwah! Happy reading! I know that there are more lyrics than the actual story but pay attention to the lyrics, they might say the story themselves.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The first song is 'Heel Over Head' by Puddle of Mudd and the second is 'In My Head' by QOTSA (Queens of the Stoneage) They're both great! And Drive too!

*Note* I actually wrote this out yesterday but my brother wouldn't let me on the computer to update it since it was past ten in the night when I finished, so sorry! I'm uploading this first thing after getting home from the torture that is school. I still have my uniform on XD

This chapter is dedicated to all of you! You are seriously the best.

Chapter 15

Sakura's fingers flew fluidly over the strings of her guitar as she lost herself in her music and her thoughts as Sasuke sang and Neji and Naruto played.

The concert had been a huge success; Akatsuki had gained a good many fans and popularity after. Green Day and Akatsuki had performed Green Day's 'Minority' together and it was the funniest and cutest thing Sakura had ever seen with Deidara playing the acoustic guitar and Billie Joe on the harmonica. Krist Novoselic, the former bassist of Nirvana had played an awesome solo after that and the concert had ended with everyone in good graces and they'd gotten back home after a small after party consisting Akatsuki and Sakura and Co.

A slight smile tilted her lips as Sakura remembered herself and Deidara singing on stage, remembered how good it had felt to simply let loose with him.

Recalling the way he had smiled –smiled, not smirked or grinned− made her stomach do a little flip that was far from uncomfortable. She found herself blushing as she recalled the strangely intense look on his face as he had stared at her after their performance together. As if he had wanted to tell her something but decided against it in the last possible second.

Their emotions had perfectly melded together in that simple performance, like something in them had intertwined together, linking them to each other. Something inside them that had felt a lot like their hear−

Sakura's traitorous thoughts were abruptly cut off as one of her guitar strings broke off with a loud 'ping', startling her and the members of 'Katon'.

The teens stopped playing as Sakura sat down to replace her string. Replacing was always hard for her to do since she couldn't get those frigging screws off and this time was no exception. Neji and Naruto watched with amused looks on their faces as the frustrated pinkette tried to loosen the bolt.

After a few more minutes of trying and failing to get the screw off, Sasuke was getting impatient.

In the end, he abandoned his post in front of the mike and grabbed Sakura's guitar and a new string from her hands, eliciting a surprised squawk from the girl. Beckoning for her to get out of the chair, Sasuke sat down as she obliged. A few seconds of prying with his hands and the screw was off and Sasuke put the new string in place before fastening the screw and tuning the string just right before handing it back to Sakura, who was watching him with an incredulous expression.

"How'd you do that so quick?" she asked disbelievingly as she draped the strap of her guitar around her neck.

Sasuke sighed. "I used to play for Lithium, remember", he answered brusquely and Sakura nodded understandingly, not pressing him for more. From what Itachi had revealed to her, Sasuke had quit Lithium after their father's death and the band had broken up since they couldn't find a guitarist like him again.

"Thanks", she said quietly and Sasuke flashed her the tiniest of smiles before going back to performing.

She, Naruto and the rest had come back from the concert to find that Sasuke had been working on a few songs in their absence. No words about the concert had been spoken between them and the four just rehearsed during the weekend.

Sasuke had gotten down to writing some songs, all which appeared good to them.

The one they were playing right now was called 'Heel over Head' and they were currently experimenting on a melody for it.

_And I'm sorry for wasting all your time_

_And I'm sorry for losing all my mind_

_And I think that I'm lost and hard to find_

_But I feel like I'm living a timeless lie _

_And I'm heel over head_

_Jet black skies painted white again_

_And I'm heel over head_

_Leave my eyes in the clouds again_

_You don't save me at all_

_You don't save me at all_

_You don't save me at all_

_You don't save me_

_Don't you walk away from me_

_I've given up everything and I think that I'm ripping apart at the seams _

_And I'm finding it all hard to believe_

_And I feel like I'm living inside a dream_

_That no one believes and no one sees._

Sakura particularly liked the lyrics and to be honest, she hadn't ever thought that Sasuke was capable of writing something like this. If they perfected it, they could even have a shot at getting some decent gigs and getting 'discovered'.

But now, for the first time in her life, the band was not the first item on her list of priorities. One of them was to start freaking studying since the finals were edging closer and closer, which was a nightmare enough as it was and the next few were to somehow get Sasuke to forgive Itachi (even though that was technically not her place to do) and most importantly, even more importantly than studying for finals was to somehow come to a clear idea on what exactly her relationship with Deidara was and the final task was the one that had her mostly on edge.

In all honesty, she didn't even know what she felt about Deidara much less his feelings for her. It was complicated really, one minute they were bickering and firing insults and one another and the next, she was undeniably starting to get attracted to him.

And it was not in the way that the other girls admired him. Sure, she liked the fact that he was handsome and well built but she was even more attracted to the deep part of him that sculpted, the part of him that had tattoos on his palm, the part of him that was hot-headed and rash, the part of him that loved to eat, the part of him that loved art and the part of him that couldn't live without music, just like her. It was the parts of him that he only showed to very few people (and she counted herself as one of the lucky ones) that she was inexplicably drawn to and she was now beginning to realize and more importantly, accept it.

But it confused her as to just what those feelings _meant, _if that made any sense. She wasn't sure if what she felt for Deidara was simply liking as a friend or something else… something deeper and the majority of her senses told her it was the latter and to be frank, it made her nervous.

So she decided to not think about those complicated and pesky things that were called 'feelings' and 'emotions' and drove those thoughts to the edge of her mind, just a hair's breadth from falling off.

She instead concentrated on the steady sound of the guitar, Sasuke's smooth and deep vocals, Neji's low thrumming and Naruto's thrashing.

She let herself be drowned by the music instead of facing her thoughts.

It always worked.

* * *

It was dark, really late at night, but he didn't mind. He was used to staying up late.

Deidara flipped his blonde bang out of his face as he splattered another piece of clay with his fingers onto the miniscule sculpture he was working on.

A miniscule sculpture of a very familiar person that he was trying to get out of his mind but unfortunately couldn't.

He sighed, using the tip of his fingernail to carve the delicate spidery curves of the eyelashes of her mint green orbs on the mini-sculpture of Sakura.

It was completely unlike him, he knew, to be thinking about a girl so much that he was even inadvertently creating models out of her but she just wouldn't leave his frigging mind. It was like when you got chewing gum stuck on your hair but far worse. His hands were on auto-pilot at the moment as his brain worked overdrive. It was tiring.

He was trying so hard not to think of her, even as he remembered the unusual but so damn pretty color of her large, expressive eyes. Eyes that had been filled with emotions matching his on the day of the concert, when he, without thinking, had called her onto the stage.

Emotions those were totally uncalled for and annoying.

Deidara didn't care about women. He had never had a relationship that lasted for more than a few days and he had never had the desire to pursue a long-term relationship. He didn't usually care about small, feisty pink haired girls and he didn't constantly entertain his mind with thoughts of how it would be to just _be _with said girl. Yet, he still found himself thinking of all these things with Sakura.

When he had free time, or when was rehearsing, or listening to music, even working at school, his mind would somehow drift to the girl with the pink hair and emerald eyes.

He thought it was pathetic. He was pathetic to be thinking about a girl who had never even shown an inkling of romantic interest in him. A girl who was totally _not_ hot. A girl who was feisty and not afraid to speak her mind. Hell, a girl who wasn't afraid of _him_. And he probably shouldn't think of her.

Yet he did. Constantly.

He had told himself a countless number of times that he didn't care about her. That she was just a friend and that he shouldn't give a shit about who she hung out with or liked.

But he found himself getting jealous (yes, he was admitting it) whenever she spoke with a guy. Whenever she seemed like she was even remotely interested in them.

Sometimes, he got mad when she spoke with chibi Itachi and her other male friends, which was totally embarrassing. Even Hidan found out sometimes and teased him about it.

Sometimes he wished that he was the only person who she was allowed to have less than friendly intentions for.

Sometimes he wished she would just be with him instead of others. He wanted her to talk to _him_, laugh with _him_, joke with _him_, bicker with _him_, and hell, even fight with _him_. He was being possessive, he knew, but he didn't care.

Yeah, he admitted it.

But still, admitting it didn't change the fact that it embarrassed him. Didn't change the fact that he didn't want her to know his true feelings because she sure as hell didn't feel the same for him, he knew. Sure he had caught her checking him out and stuff but still, he was always checked out by chicks and she had never once intoned that she felt that way for him in any manner.

Except when she hung around with him.

Except when she ditched her friends and sometimes even cousin, to spend time with him. (Of course it didn't apply to him that she spent time with the rest of Akatsuki too)

Except when she always came to him when he called.

Except when he was the first person she shared anything remotely funny, sad or interesting with.

Except, oh you know, _all_ the time.

But Deidara was still suffering from denial so none of those facts occurred to him of course. Instead, he cursed silently as he could (Sasori was asleep and didn't like to be disturbed) when he ruined a part of Sakura hair and ran a hand through his own hair in irritation, blaming the late hour on his annoying and perpetual blunders.

Seeming to decide that he had tortured himself enough with thoughts of what would never be, he put mini-Sakura into a cupboard and tossed all of his appliances into the same one before locking it, ensuring that no one would find it.

He dusted himself off and rose from the cross-legged position he had been in before grabbing a pen and the notebook where he wrote down random lyrics and began to jot down some lines furiously. Lines that had come to him while thinking of Sakura. Even as he wrote, the earphones of his iPod were stuck into his ears and he was listening to 'Drive' by Joe 90. Sakura had once told him that it was one of her favorite songs… The song sort of reminded him of her in a way. But then again, nowadays everything seemed to remind him of her.

Seriously, even when he had seen two children coddling a litter of puppies in the park earlier that morning, he had thought of Sakura and how she adored animals, especially puppies.

He scribbled in his small block handwriting, quickly matching up line to line, verse to verse…

_I keep on playing our favorite song_

_I turn it up while you're gone_

_It's all I've got when you're in my head_

_And you're in my head_

_So I need it_

_You're the only thing I've got_

_And I can't seem to get enough…_

Some parts of the lyrics were touchy-feely and embarrassing and unlike his usual work but Deidara could admit that it was the truth. And if he had nothing to lose, being honest with himself wouldn't hurt, right?

He had known exactly how he'd felt for Sakura for a while now but today was the day he'd actually admitted it. He accepted it but he would keep quiet for now. If the rest (Akatsuki) found out about it, he wouldn't hear the end of it and he didn't even want to think about what Sasori would say or do, for that matter. It would probably involve some garden pliers.

And Sakura… It would best for now that she didn't know. Until he was certain that she felt the same way.

With these embarrassing thoughts in his head, Deidara lay back on his bed, his arms underneath his head and iPod blaring in his ears.

As he closed his eyes and sleep started to take over, a particular lovely green eye appeared in his mind, clear and sparkling.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into, yeah?" was his last thought as he fell asleep.

* * *

In a long, rectangular conference table, five figures sat, their forms darkened by the shadows cast in the dark room. An air of malevolence hung over the room like a particularly dark cloud and the figures were chatting excitedly, in harsh, whispery tones.

"They're starting to be a hindrance", a female voice whispered furiously.

"Yeah", an aggressive male voice came agreed from next to her. "I say we get rid of them and get _him_ back".

"Are you an idiot? That would gain too much attention from the media! I say we do something less conspicuous", another voice argued.

Murmurs of approval were heard throughout the room.

A dangerously silky voice spoke up from the head of the table and the others hastily broke off.

"Lately they seem to have a new addition to their _team_. Someone that is important to both parties concerned", the voice was soft, but too dangerous to be considered gentle.

"Ah", a new voice entered the conversation and a rustling of papers were heard in the room as the man shuffled a group of papers in a file and slid towards the head of the table.

The silky voice chuckled, a chilling sound as the person went through the bunch of papers.

"What? What is it?" the female voice intoned impatiently, ignoring the urgings of the male voice from next to her to show some respect.

The chuckling escalated further, the sound infinitely different from when he spoke. It was raspy and gruesome.

He threw the file onto the table, the contents scattering and the rest of the people scrambled to get a closer look at the photo that slid out.

A photo of a laughing girl with unusual gleaming green orbs and unique pink hair.

Murmurs went throughout the room as the man with the silky voice, obviously the leader, picked up the photo with the tips of his fingers, holding it up in front of his face.

"Haruno Sakura", he breathed.

The crumpling sound of paper was heard as he crushed the photo underneath his fingers.

"This should certainly be interesting".

* * *

Finally, Deidara realizes his feeling for Sakura! Hallelujah XD It was really hard to write his feelings and I hope you guys liked it. And ooh, the plot thickens?

Once again, I can't tell you how happy I am to get over fifty reviews! Thank you all so much for your support and lovely, encouraging reviews. They all kept me going :) Let's try for hundred, eh? Though I doubt that'd ever happen. I thank everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story and adding it to their favorite lists! It means so much. And thanks to the anonymous reviewers, you guys are awesome! So sorry I can't reply to you personally. Oh, and sorry about the shortness of the chapter. I just felt that I had to stop it there and continue the rest in the next chapter.

Random QOTD : Coke or Pepsi? XD Okay, I'll be serious. What is your most favorite pairing in the Naruto fandom? Mine used to be ItaSaku but now DeiSaku is quickly starting to overtake it :)

Please review and let me know what you thought of the chapter and ways that I could improve.

Love,

Alistair.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Alright, so new chapter. Finally. Thanks for the encouraging reviews, I love you guys mucho grande! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: You guys know this by now.

Chapter 16

"Hey you guys!" Sakura's blonde bombshell of a best friend cried chirpily, skipping to their table in the cafeteria.

The heads of her friends whipped around to face her, Sakura, Naruto and Tenten's' faces looking anticipant, Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru looking bored and Hinata sporting her usual gentle expression.

"What is it pig?" Sakura asked with a playful directed at the blonde, who pouted.

"Well, _forehead_, I was thinking that since we haven't hung out for a while, we should have a sleepover tonight", Ino said, sliding her tray onto the table and sitting down in a chair. The boys immediately returned to their earlier debate about what video game they thought was the best. They knew all too well that 'we' included only the girls.

Sakura perked up when she heard the word 'sleepover'. They hadn't had a sleepover in ages and with all the tension she was feeling, with what her confused feelings and Deidara and the Uchiha Brothers, having a sleepover and loosening up would do her a lot of good. Besides, she may get the chance to have some major fun with the girls.

"Awesome. Count me in" she cried eagerly. Tenten and Hinata agreed. A girl's night would be fun.

"Did someone say something about a sleepover?" a voice came from behind the girls.

A girl with greenish-blue eyes and sandy blonde hair that was tied into four pigtails grinned at them faintly. Flanking her were two boys, one with dark brown hair and brown eyes and the other with piercing green eyes and slightly shaggy red-brown hair.

"Oh my god, Temari~!" Sakura squealed and gave the blonde one of her infamous 'Sakura-loves-you-to-death' squeezes. "You're back!"

The blonde known as Temari grinned. "Live and in the flesh", she said as Ino and Hinata moved in for a group hug, squeezing the girl, Tenten settling for bumping fists. She wasn't a huggy kind of girl, except when it came for Sakura.

"Care to share the love?" the dark brown haired boy asked with a grin as the girls released Temari.

"Great to see you too, Kankuro" Sakura laughed but to the boy's disappointment, didn't hug him.

The reddish-brown haired boy tried to slink away to the safety of the other boys but was too slow for Sakura, who captured his wrist.

"Gaara, I see you're still as antisocial as ever. Seriously, you need to go out a bit. Socialize", she teased and Gaara frowned as she hugged him too, but returned the embrace after a while. "You haven't changed either", he remarked dryly as he took a seat next to Naruto, who had been waving enthusiastically at him ever since he had gotten there.

"How come he gets a hug and I don't?" Kankuro asked with a mock-pout in Sakura's direction and the girl grinned.

"Because", she lowered her voice to an obvious stage-whisper. "He's an antisocial emo kid who needs a hug now and then. Honestly, he's worse than Sasuke", she nodded teasingly to where Gaara was seated next to Naruto, listening to the blonde's boisterous account on something.

"So, how was Paris?" Ino questioned excitedly as they all sat down to enjoy their meals. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara were siblings, though it wasn't very obvious, and their parents had been on a business trip to Paris and the three had gone along since they had no relatives to stay with and their parents didn't trust to leave them alone in the house, on account of Temari and Kankuro holding parties and thrashing the place and Gaara being too jaded to care.

"Honestly? Not at all up to the hype", the blonde replied as she popped one of Gaara's fries into her mouth, the boy frowning at her action.

"Really?" Sakura asked in surprise. She had always thought that Paris was this awesome place where the streets were beautiful at night and you could shop till you dropped. Literally. Paris was a big city.

"The people were stingy, the food was downright horrid and it rained the WHOLE time we were there! I'm actually glad we're back". As an afterthought, she added, "The clothes were amazing though... I got souvenirs for all you guys", of course, Ino squealed excitedly at that.

"Alright. What was this about a sleepover, then?" Temari asked with a twinkle in her eyes. She loved sleepovers. What could she say? They were fun and you got to know all the dark secrets of your friends' lives.

"We were thinking we should have a sleepover. You really picked an awesome time to come back", Tenten stated, taking a sip of Neji's coke, ignoring the boy's protests.

"That sounds fun. We should totally have it at my place", Temari offered and the girls brightened. Temari's house was great. It was located in a quiet corner of their neighborhood and no one would hear a thing even if they yelled at the top of their lungs. It was the perfect place for a bunch of teens to hang out and was usually the sight of many parties.

"Then it's settled. Eight at Temari's place", Sakura said. Suddenly, she was elbowed by Tenten.

"Oi, Saks, your blonde biker babe is looking over here", she said with a lazy grin.

Sakura reddened and directed her gaze towards Akatsuki's usual table at the corner of the cafeteria. Sure enough, Deidara was looking at her. His face was unusually and unexpectedly soft, almost gentle, and then she blinked and it was gone, replaced by his usual overconfident expression and infuriating smirk. One of his striking blue eyes closed in a wink.

She stuck her tongue out and looked away from him, her cheeks still red. Had he really been staring at her gently? Or was it a trick of the light?

"Whoa, who is _that_?" Temari's low whistle broke her out of her reverie.

"That, my dear Temari, is Sakura's own said blonde biker babe", Ino said with a glint in her eyes. "And he was making goo-goo eyes at her".

"He's _fine_", Temari drawled and Sakura sputtered indignantly. "He was not making goo-goo eyes at me. He doesn't do goo-goo eyes", she argued. Because he just didn't. He was Deidara of the pretty eyes and prick personality. Deidara's didn't make goo-goo eyes, especially at Sakura's.

"_Right_", Ino rolled her cornflower blue eyes. "He wasn't". Her voice was heavily laced with sarcasm.

"S-Sakura, he was staring at you", Hinata put in timidly and Sakura's eyes widened, face sporting a look of betrayal. "Not you too Hina!" she exclaimed, laying her head in her hands. Stupid Deidara. Why did he have to be looking this way?

"Anyway, it's settled. The sleepover is at my place tonight at eight", Temari said, unexpectedly and mercifully letting the Deidara issue go.

At least, that's what Sakura thought until she leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"And you're telling me all about Mr. Blonde biker babe".

Shit.

Blondes were frigging _evil_.

* * *

"What are we doing here again, yeah?" Deidara questioned with a yawn as he downed his mug of beer in one go. Hidan leered from next to him and Kisame placed his bottle on the table before looking at Deidara with a grave expression on his face.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Someone die, yeah?" Deidara asked with a raised brow.

"Deidara, bro", Hidan started passionately, peering at Deidara through glazed purple eyes. He was already starting to feel the effects of alcohol. "This is a –_hic_− fucking intervention".

"Hidan, you're drunk", Deidara deadpanned. "What intervention are you talking about, hmm?" Hidan rolled his eyes and Kisame answered in his stead.

"Dude, you have to tell her", the blue-tinted boy rasped and Hidan nodded. Deidara stared confusedly at his friends. What the fuck were they going on about?

"For Jashin's fucking sake man, you gotta tell her!" Hidan added, signaling the bartender for another round of beers. The three were underage but the owner of the bar was one of Kisame's friends so it was all good.

"Tell who what, yeah?" Deidara asked, feeling annoyed with his inebriated companions.

"Seriously, man. I'm sick of seeing you fucking staring at her like some kind of pansy ass", Hidan stated, his voice somewhat slurry while Kisame egged him on.

"Who the fuck are you talking about!?" Deidara exclaimed, losing his temper. Why couldn't Hidan just get to the point already? Deidara wasn't known for his patience nor his temper.

"That Sakura chick! You fucking dig her!" Hidan yelled for the whole bar to hear. Many angered faces turned in their direction and Kisame grinned his trademark grin and offered them apologies.

"What? Are you retarded, yeah?" Deidara whispered furiously, aware of the annoyed stares they were getting.

"I've seen you staring at her with fucking starry-eyes you nimrod!" Hidan said, not bothering to keep his voice down. From beside him, Kisame nodded. "When she hugged that red-haired kid today, you looked just about ready to kill him", he remarked amusedly and Deidara paled, sputtering.

"Aww… Dei-chan's fucking jealous. That's cute", Hidan laughed like a banshee.

"I am not jealous, yeah!" Deidara shot back vehemently. Because he wasn't. Well, not much…

Seeing the doubtful look on Deidara's handsome face, Hidan and Kisame both roared with laughter. They had been right. Deidara liked Sakura. He was just too thickheaded to accept it.

Deidara downed his beer, the liquid burning his throat. He could not believe he was having this conversation, especially with Hidan and Kisame of all people.

"Anyway man, you should tell her already", Kisame continued. Deidara shook his head with a resigned look on his face. "Are you crazy, yeah? She doesn't even like me for craps sake", he said, finally giving in to the fact that, pride be damned, he did like Sakura.

Hidan now ignored the other two teens. Touchy-feely talk was not his forte. He had only voiced his opinion because it was pathetic to see Deidara pining for a chick without even fucking telling her straight that he liked her. Besides, drinking was much better than talking. Booze for the win.

"She doesn't?" Kisame raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "I think different from the way she looks at you but what do I know? I'm just a blue-tinted shark boy aren't I?" he grinned toothily and patted Deidara on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. She'll come around soon. Hopefully".

The beginnings of a smirk began to form on Deidara's lips. "Of course, yeah. Who can resist my charm?" he said narcissistically and Kisame laughed throatily. It was good to see Deidara back to his normal overconfident self.

"Oi, you two ladies, did we come here to drink or did we come here to fucking DRINK?!" Hidan bellowed unsteadily, totally inebriated by now. Kisame and Deidara laughed at their delirious friend.

"Another round of drinks!" Kisame boomed and Deidara smirked his trademark smirk.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Four excited girls stood in the front porch of Sabaku no Temari's house, clutching sleeping bags and overnight bags and clad in pyjamas. A pink haired girl bounced up and down as she rung the doorbell a dozen times juvenilely.

Footsteps could be heard inside the house and in a matter of seconds, the front door was flung open and a grinning Temari, with her blonde hair loose and sporting purple pyjamas, appeared in the doorway. She ushered the four in and the girls immediately took refuge in the blonde's room, shutting the door and locking it.

They bounced on the soft bed, throwing down their sleeping bags and opening their overnight bags. Sakura was clad in plaid black and pink pyjamas and she carried a fluffy black overnight bag. Ino was dressed in green satin pyjamas with a black overnight bag while Hinata was dressed in blue plaid pyjamas with a matching blue bag and Tenten sported black and silver pyjamas with a silver bag.

All four girls unzipped their bags and one by one began taking out the various delicacies and necessities for the night.

"Homemade blueberry muffins courtesy of my mum from me!" Sakura grinned as she placed the wrapped muffins on a table.

"I brought c-chocolate chip cookies", Hinata said softly as she produced a fragrant batch of cookies and the girls 'ooh'd'

"Magazines compulsory for every sleepover", Ino said proudly, dumping a stack of glossy magazines onto Temari's bedspread.

"Potato chips, skittles, chocolates and all the fatty goodies that are no good for our health", Tenten poured out a generous helping of said items onto the bed and the all wrapped their hands together.

"And beverages courtesy of yours truly", Temari grinned as she pointed to a flask of hot chocolate on the same desk as Sakura's muffins.

"Alright. First things first", Temari started and eyed Sakura wickedly, making the pink haired teen gulp.

"Who is this blonde biker babe?" she asked and Sakura sighed.

"His name's Deidara and he's a hottie who rides an effing beast of a motorcycle and has a prick personality", she deadpanned and Temari prodded her in the side.

"Oh come on Saki", she coaxed. "There's gotta be more to the story".

"I-I don't know. I kinda-sorta-may-like-him-a-little-bit", the sentence was rushed and the girls had to strain their ears to hear it and Sakura covered her reddened face with a pillow, convinced that her blush was showing through it.

Ino squealed girlishly. "I knew it! I totally knew it! All those sparks flying around you guys were bound to mean something!" the blonde flailed and launched into a tirade about Sakura and Deidara, which the other girls conveniently ignored.

"DeiSaku for the win!" Ino cried out and the girls sweat dropped, especially Sakura. Did she seriously just combine their names?

She waited until the girls, mainly Ino, calmed down until she explained further.

"It's not like a crush or anything. It's just… he's fun to hang around when he's not being a douche bag and there's just this whole other side to him that I like and- and I don't know! It's complicated", she sighed, her voice muffled by the pillow she was still clutching.

"Aww… Saki's is loveeee~" Tenten said in a sing-song voice and earned a pillow in the face courtesy of the blushing pink haired teen.

"Am not!" she denied. Ino smirked at her best friend. She was so totally smitten; she just didn't realize it yet. Well, she'd let it go. For now.

"Alright, let's play truth or dare!" Ino said in a mock-evil tone and the other girls groaned. "That is so cliché Ino", Sakura muttered and Ino pouted.

"Oh come on, it won't kill you. Besides, we haven't played truth or dare since like middle school", she whined and the girls gave in. They settled on the floor in a circle and Temari used her lampshade as a makeshift bottle. She twirled it and the girls watched it until it slowed down and finally stopped.

It landed on Ino.

"Truth, obviously", she said, her cornflower blue eyes sparkling.

"Alright", Temari rubbed her hands together like some sort of evil mastermind.

"Is it true that back when we were freshman, you stole one of Shikamaru's gym shirts and held it with a kiss as ransom?" Temari asked and the girls gasped while Ino flushed a bright pink.

"Well, um, you see… yeah", she sighed in defeat and the girls exploded in laughter. Ino sure was hopeless sometimes.

She spun the bottle and it landed on Sakura. Her emerald eyes darkened in anticipation. "Dare", she said boldly.

"Let's see…" Ino pondered for a moment, wanting to humiliate the otherwise unfazed girl

"Sakura, I dare you to… call Deidara and tell him you love him", Ino smirked devilishly and Sakura cursed. Damn her for choosing a dare. She should have known Ino would pull something like this.

"But I don't like him! I only said I kinda liked him", she pouted and Tenten laughed.

"A dare is a dare Saks".

"Okay. Fine, but don't take it seriously.", she said firmly and the girls watched with bated breath as Sakura took out her phone and dialed the blonde biker's number.

It rang for a while until Deidara picked up. Sakura put it on speaker.

"Who the –_hic_- fuck is this, yeah?!" Deidara's normally electric tone of voice sounded slurred and there was a lot of noise in the background.

"It's me Sakura", the girl said, wondering what the fuck was going on at the other line.

"Ahhh… Sakura! Just the girl I wanted to talk to, yeah. Tell me.. how ARE things, hmm? Everything going good?" Sakura's eyebrow twitched. The dude was acting weird.

"Deidara, are you _drunk_?" she asked disbelievingly and an array of hiccoughs were heard and the girls sniggered.

"Of course not! What the hell –hic- made you think that, yeah?" Sakura rolled her eyes. He was totally pissed. Ino mouthed to get on with it.

"Um, Deidara, I have something I want to say to you…", she began hesitantly.

"Well, what is it, yeah? I gotta run soon", Deidara said. In the background, Sakura could hear a familiar raspy voice laughing and saying 'Hidan, your eyes are fucking PURPLE, dude!". Kisame. Apparently, all three were drunk. But who cared? She had more important things at hand. It was probably for the better that he was drunk. He wouldn't remember a thing.

"I.. uh.. well… I like you. Bye".

She hung up.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the bar, Deidara slammed his phone onto the counter repeatedly. "How do I fucking get this thing to work, yeah?!" he asked. Meanwhile, Hidan was shamelessly smooching the table, thinking it was a woman and Kisame was laughing hysterically at nothing. Yes, they were drunk.

"Kisame… Sakura likes me, yeah!" Deidara yelled before downing yet another glass of beer. Kisame grinned tipsily. "Good for you, kid. Now anybody up for some karaoke?!" he yelled. The bar was mostly empty except for them. Hidan stopped smooching the table and yelled 'Hell Yeah' and Deidara grabbed an empty bottle of beer and began to sing.

"I'm a fucking Barbie girl, yeah! WOOO", he was totally out of it now. Hidan and Kisame joined in.

"Dress me up, make it tight, I'm your fucking dolly!" Hidan screeched like a hyena before bursting into crazy laughter.

"Look, Kisame! Deidara is a fucking BARBIE. He has blonde hair!", he said, fingering Deidara's blonde hair like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.

"Hell yes I am! I'm a fucking single blonde in a fantasy world, yeah!" Oh, if only he knew what the fuck he was talking about. If only he knew.

"Kisame", Hidan punched the shark like boy playfully. "You're effing blue. Deidara, he's fucking blue!"

"Hahaha, Hidan you're PRETTY!" Deidara said, going for Hidan but ending up grabbing the bartender by the shirt, who paled at the sight of the drunk boy. "What the fuck? You're not Hidan!" he exclaimed and let the man go, who breathed a sigh of relief. These kids were insane.

"Deidara, you're fucking drunk, man. Like seriously!" Kisame swayed as he tried to stand up but ended up falling on his butt on the floor and the first thing that came out of his mouth was frenzied laughter.

Deidara ignored Kisame and continued the salsa he was currently dancing with the chair, singing the lyrics to Green Day's St. Jimmy.

The teens were thoroughly thrashed. Hidan was unconscious on the table, Deidara was giggling like a godforsaken schoolgirl and Kisame was mumbling something about sushi when the door to the bar opened and an enraged Sasori walked in.

"SASORI, my man, come share the love", Deidara offered tipsily with his arms spread wide as Sasori apologized to the bartender.

"WHAT?! THE FUCKING NAZIS? WHERE? WHEN?" Hidan yelled suddenly from the middle of the world war dream he was having and then fell back unconscious.

Sasori glared at the scene in front of him. Sakura had called him and informed him about Deidara being drunk and he had driven around for hours looking for those mother fudging idiots and here they were, like freaking maniacs.

Deidara hiccoughed. "Oi, Sasori, I like your cousin", he said shyly.

These idiots were so fucking dead when they got back.

* * *

Chapter sixteen is now complete! So, what are your thoughts? Sorry if it wasn't funny and was a bore. Please let me know through reviews.

Random QOTD: Are you a cat person or a dog person?

I am a dog person to the death xD

Review!

Love,

Alistair.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Hello! An update and before the deadline? It must be snowing xD Wow, seventeen chapters, eh? Never thought that I would actually write so much, much less get so many wonderful reviews. Thank you all for the reviews, I love you guys a lot! Enjoy!

Oh and Akatsuki wishes you a wonderful Halloween!~ :3 I wish we celebrated it here in Sri Lanka.

Disclaimer: Alistair owns nothing.

Chapter 17

Deidara yawned loudly, his eyes becoming watery as he slowly cut up slices of bread and spread generous helpings of butter and grated cheese and popped them into the toaster when they were done. Standing next to him was Sasori, who was frying some eggs over a pan, mahogany eyes irritated and mouth a hard line.

Deidara groaned inwardly. He could practically feel the hostility almost reeking off of his best friend. Sasori looked like he would just about burst any minute now and it would do nothing to help the ridiculous hangover Deidara was currently experiencing.

Three.

The eggs sizzled merrily in the pan.

Two.

The 'bing' of the toaster was heard and Deidara proceeded to get the toast out.

One.

Blast Off.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Sasori asked, his voice angry though he still fried the eggs calmly as you please. Deidara rolled his eyes. They had been through this a thousand times already. Couldn't he just let it go?

"I told you Sasori, we were just having a drink. Loosen the hell up, yeah", his voice was soft, almost pleading, courtesy of not wanting to worsen his headache and contradicting his harsh words.

"That was not 'having a drink'. You were acting like a pack of wild animals. Have you not heard of self-control?" Sasori hissed in irritation even as he went about setting the table while Deidara still stood in the same place, bags underneath his blue eyes and in sweats and a T-shirt, regardless of how cold it was. His usually immaculate hair was in complete disarray for once in his life. He would die before someone other than Akatsuki saw him like this.

"We were just unwinding Sasori. You could do with some yourself, hmm", he began lightly and then winced as he was cut off by the sound of Sasori slamming several utensils over the counter. His best friend was doing everything he could to worsen his already escalating hangover.

"Unlike yourself, I have something I like to call self respect, Deidara and I would prefer to keep it that way, thank you", the redhead remarked callously as he drew back a chair raucously and sat down on it, the legs of the chair scraping unsympathetically over the wooden floor.

Sasori, in a rare moment of vindictiveness, began eating his breakfast, scraping his utensils as loudly as he could against his plate, table manners be damned, wanting Deidara to truly feel the consequences of his feat last night and what better way would it be than physical pain? Call him cruel but he was angry and anger did strange things to people, more often than not.

Deidara was just about ready to cry out; his headache was getting worse by the minute; when the doorbell rang unexpectedly.

Hidan groaned from the couch. "Keep it the fuck down, you guys. I have a fucking hangover", he slurred as he fell back asleep. Kisame grunted but did not stir from his spot on the floor.

Shooting a withering look at Hidan's profile, Sasori raised an eyebrow at Deidara, who paused with a slice of bread in his mouth, his blue eyes confused.

"Get the door", Sasori said, smirking, and Deidara paled. He was so not doing this to him. Sasori knew how much he hated to be seen on one of his bad days and yet here he was, asking Deidara to get the door when he was in no such state to, if his appearance was something to go on. In vain, he tried to spruce himself up a little bit before padding over to the door, cursing Sasori under his breath the whole time and throwing it open, ready to give the visitor a piece of his mind.

An all too familiar girl with pink hair and green eyes stood in his doorway, bundled up cozily against the late November chill complete with a woolen cap and scarf. The expression on her face was one of impatience and if Deidara had looked closely, he'd have detected faint signs of paranoia and frustration as well. But as absorbed in his surprise as he was, the blonde teen failed to notice her feelings at the moment.

Deidara sputtered, his blue eyes bulging out comically as he almost shut the door in the girl's face in his surprise. What the hell was she doing here? Why did it have to be her of all people that caught him on one of his bad days?

"Well?" Sakura raised a pink eyebrow. "Are you going to let me in? It's freezing out here". Her petite body wracked with a shiver and Deidara stepped aside absently to let her through.

"What are you doing here, yeah?" Deidara asked, nothing short of rude, and Sakura glared. "Hello to you too, blondie", she said in annoyance as she stepped over Kisame passed out on the floor and removed her cap and scarf before setting them down on the couch on top of Hidan. Sometimes she wondered why the hell she even remotely liked this guy.

Deidara twitched in irritation. Regardless of his _feelings_ –he hated to think, much less say that dreaded word− for her, she couldn't just come barging in here whenever she liked, especially when he was looking as bad as he was. And in addition, there was a wisp of some memory he couldn't quite recall nagging him. Something concerning last night and Sakura and that combination just didn't appeal to him whatsoever.

"Why are you here Sakura?" Sasori questioned calmly, the only thing to even hint that he was surprised being the slight wrinkling of his forehead.

Sakura swallowed slowly and audibly and the two boys frowned. Only then did they notice that she looked nervous and not her usual bubbly self. Her mouth was downturned at the corners and there was a grave tint to her eyes and she was frowning slightly.

Deidara blinked slowly, wondering what could be bothering her like this. Don't tell him it wasn't that same nagging memory that was bothering him was it?

"I have something to tell you guys… Maybe I'm just paranoid or whatever but I really feel like I need to tell someone".

Sasori's mahogany eyes narrowed at that statement. What could be wrong? Surely Sakura hadn't pulled a Deidara and gone and gotten herself into trouble had she? Sasori knew hanging out with the blonde biker would do her no good…

Deidara, momentarily forgetting his hangover and the state of his appearance, prodded Sakura in the side. "Well, what is it, yeah?" he pressed and Sakura stared into his blue eyes, remembering what she had confessed to him the night before, thanking her stars he didn't appear to remember it. She blushed even as she recalled it. She was sick of being in denial and was beginning to slowly accept the fact that yes, she did like Deidara a little. Did he feel the same towards her? His attitude didn't really give her anything to go on but a girl could hope right?

Cheeks still red, her green eyes looked up into his, expecting the see the remarkable blue orbs indifferent but surprised to actually find them clouded with… worry? Was that what it was? Or was it just her delirious mind?

Well, whatever it was, it could wait, Sakura decided. For now she needed to get the current situation out in the open.

She took a long, deep breath and let it out and cursed herself for being so paranoid all of a sudden. It was probably just her being weird or something but she needed to get it out.

"I think… I think I'm being watched". There, she said it. If they laughed, she would kill them.

It had started when she had been walking home from Temari's house this morning. The quite long walk from Temari's place to her own house had mostly consisted of Sakura looking over her shoulder the whole while and jumping when a bush rustled. It was weird. It had felt like someone had been watching her but she there hadn't been a soul in sight. Once she could have sworn she'd heard someone cough from behind her but when she'd turned, no one had been there. So, it was understandable that she was feeling a little scared and who better to tell than her mature, level-headed cousin Sasori (though she hadn't thought of his flat-mate)?

Instead of laughing, the boys' reactions were more subdued and serious. Sasori was frowning in thought and Deidara was half-glaring at something only he could see.

"Watched?" Sasori repeated softly. A prick of understanding hit him. He had an idea of why someone was watching Sakura and what, or more appropriately _who_ they were trying to obtain from doing it and he didn't like it.

Sakura nodded slowly and related the story of her walk from Temari's house earlier that morning.

"Why the heck would anyone watch you, yeah?" Deidara asked. He hadn't meant it as an insult. It was just that, like Sasori, he had some suspicions on this matter and wanted them to be confirmed.

"That's just it. I have no idea", Sakura was stumped as she sat back on a bean bag chair in puzzlement. It wasn't like she was someone rich or whatever for people to be watching her.

"What about now, yeah. Did you feel like someone was watching you on the way here?" Deidara interrogated like he was Sherlock Holmes and Sakura pictured him in a trench coat and deerstalkercap. She would've laughed had the situation not been serious.

"As a matter of fact, yeah", she answered, growing more and more afraid by the moment. "Do you think maybe it's just me?" she questioned as Sasori felt sympathetic towards his cousin. She really was anxious here. Who wouldn't be if they were in her position? He had his suspicions but he felt the need to not speak of them until he had solid proof that his assumptions were true. He just had to keep Sakura safe as he investigated.

Deidara, meanwhile, was feeling a similar mix of emotion with a few more added in, namely, worry and anger. It wasn't that he was afraid for her or something pansy-ish like that. He was just _slightly_ worried. He just didn't want anything to happen to her and he was sure Sasori felt the same way, granted, for different reasons.

He glanced at the redhead out of the corner of his eye and knew he was thinking the same thing as himself. They both had an idea of who was watching Sakura and the reason they were doing it. So, those bastards had decided to up their game, had they? Well, Akatsuki weren't your average run-of-the-mill teens who were in a band. They would get to the bottom of this and above all, they would keep Sakura safe. She wasn't mixed up in this and Deidara and Sasori had no desire to involve her in it either.

"I should be on the safe side for now and keep my suspicions to myself," Sasori thought, taking one glance at Deidara and coming to the conclusion that he was thinking the same thing. They weren't best friends for nothing and both knew the other well enough to know what they were thinking. "Sakura", Sasori called and the pink haired teen raised her head.

"Have you told your mother about this?" The answer was negative. "She's busy with work and I didn't want to worry her". Sasori sighed.

"We'll need to tell her. I'll explain the situation to her. In any case, you shouldn't go out alone", he advised and Sakura nodded. "Keep your friends close but don't inform them of the situation yet. If anything happens, come to either Deidara or myself, even Itachi will do. We'll get to the bottom of this".

To Sakura's surprise and slight happiness, Deidara didn't object to him being involved in all of this. Little did she know that for some reason he felt was too troublesome to dwell on, he was currently entertaining different thoughts of how he would torture and kill anyone who harmed her, as touchy-feely as that was. What could he say? He liked cherry. He liked her a hell of a lot and he didn't want people he liked to get hurt and he didn't particularly like when they were well and truly agitated, as Sakura was now.

With a grin, he ruffled Sakura's short locks and the girl looked up at him with an adorable pout on her face.

"What was that for?" she questioned, trying and failing to fix her hair.

Deidara shrugged. "Just looking a little depressed there, yeah. Wouldn't want to get wrinkles this young would you?" Sakura huffed at that and tickled him in the ribs, which he reciprocated quite masterfully.

"Hey s-stop. It's agony!" Sakura protested as he tickled her particularly viciously in her side. Deidara laughed an 'evil mastermind' laugh. "That's what you get for messing with the master, kid, yeah", he said in superiority and Sakura rolled her eyes between her laughter. Deidara smirked in triumph. He'd made her laugh. Mission accomplished.

The tickling thus continued onto a poke war and Sakura smiled to herself as she realized he'd done it in an effort to cheer her up a little. And it'd worked; she'd give him credit for that. A warm flush ran across her cheeks as it dawned on her that maybe Deidara did care about her a little, enough to not want her to be depressed. That made her grin even wider as she ensued in their poke war, paranoia forgotten for the moment.

The other conscious occupant of the room smiled slightly at his best friend's antics. As mad as he was at Deidara for getting himself and Hidan and Kisame drunk last night, it was hard to stay mad at him for a long while, especially when he saw how much the blonde cared for his little cousin. As he watched them poking and laughing at each other, he knew that Sakura would be safe with Deidara and he'd have nothing to worry about where he was concerned.

With a smile gracing his serene features, Sasori called to his cousin and friend from the dinner table. "Want to finish breakfast?"

Sakura agreed with a big grin as she dragged Deidara to the table and helped herself to scrambled eggs and toast, chatting with the boys and trying and succeeding in not dwelling on her current situation. Telling Sasori had been the right decision. She felt like she was a little kid all over again who idolized and wanted to be like her big cousin. Of course, telling Deidara hadn't been something she'd anticipated but something good had come out of it, she knew he cared about her a little and that was comforting so she wasn't about to complain.

"Mmm, Doughnuts", Hidan turned over on the couch, muttering in his sleep, breaking the silence and the two boys shared meaningful glances as Sakura grinned at the sleeping silver haired teen.

They were the effing Akatsuki and consequences be damned, they _would_ keep her safe.

Sasori munched on his toast pensively as Sakura and Deidara bickered.

He would have to have a chat with Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

Yeah, I know it was really short but it was like the beginning of the end of the story :) Hope you guys liked it and reviews are highly appreciated! Have a nice day!

Random QOTD : Do you like Sasuke?

Love,

Alistair.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Hey, guys! Surprised? This is a fast update since your reviews were so sweet :3 70 reviews? I never thought this story would get even fifty. Thank you so so so much for all your effing amazing reviews! You don't know how much they mean to me. I love you guys! This chapter is longer than the previous ones which were disgustingly short. Also, a special shout out to **timoteii**, who pointed out my punctuation mistakes. Thanks! Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this? ^^"

Chapter 18

The sun was shining. Birds were singing. The sky was a beautiful sparkling cerulean blue and the weather was perfect. All in all, it was the ideal day for school. A day for laughing and chattering with friends and to experience all the joys that came from learning and enjoy the carefree life of being a teenager. And what exactly did the aforementioned teenagers have to say about this day?

It sucked. Totally frigging sucked.

On this beautiful day, for once in all of its ten odd years of existence, Konoha High was utterly, completely pin-drop silent. A touch of foreboding was in the air, completely contradicting the gorgeous weather and the usual lively chatter of students was absent as they walked gloomily into the school, faces the very picture of misery. Their mood was desolate, grim, austere, bleak, dismal, depressing; um... you get the gist. And why, I hear you ask, are these normally animated teenagers behaving like a pack of prisoners on death row? Of course, there was only one reason for this behavior and it was only one word.

Exams.

Exams. The most horrid and dreaded event of any self-respecting high-schoolers' life, not counting the nerdy and genetically smart ones.

The teachers, of course, all had self-satisfied smirks on their faces. This was the day they got retribution for all the times these little demons had given them hell. This was _their _day. They grinned as the pessimistic bunch of teenagers slowly trooped into their classrooms, offering glares to every teacher they saw on the way, wishing for them to just go _die._

Our heroine, Sakura of the pink hair and dreaded temper was of course also included in this posse of students. She was generally smart and did well at school but studying was something she thought to be tiresome and she hated exams because how on earth were you supposed to stay in one place for that long? And after you were done, you weren't even allowed to talk, let alone go home. It was _torture_, for people like her who just couldn't sit still and enjoyed talking.

Her first test of the day was English, which came as a major relief because it was far by her easiest subject and then the second test was −yay− Biology, her second easiest subject so she guessed it was sort of a win-win situation, for today at least. With a grin, Sakura took her usual corner seat next to the window and took out her bag containing her stationery before placing her books on a separate table next to the Teacher's' desk as all the children were supposed to, to put a stop to copying from their books.

Once she turned back to retreat to her seat, she caught Sasori's eye from where he was standing at the doorway and smiled. He returned the smile briefly before walking away. After she had revealed to Sasori her suspicions, her cousin had been keeping a close watch on her without actually invading her privacy. He had informed Itachi, who he knew could trust, and often Sakura had glimpsed Deidara and Itachi keeping an eye on her at the cafeteria or at hallways and the three often hung around her. It baffled Hidan, Tobi and Kisame but they made no complaint because they were quite fond of Sakura themselves. So far, there had been no revelations as to who was watching her but Sakura frequently felt that 'chills on your spine' kind of feeling that meant that she was not alone when she thought she was. Her mother had been horrified when she had learned of it and even offered to stay at home from her job but Sakura had protested, assuring her that it was probably nothing and that she would be safe with Sasori watching over her. They would find out who was behind this and why they were doing it but right now, she needed to concentrate on her test.

Returning back to her desk, she smiled at Sasuke who was seated next to her, bored as usual. On his right was Naruto, who was desperately doing some last-minute revision, muttering phrases like 'I'm dead' or 'How the hell am I supposed to remember this' every few seconds. Sasuke shook his head at the blonde and muttered 'dobe'. He of course was well prepared for the test as he was for everything.

"Alright class," Kakashi walked in, a bundle of papers in his arms. "Books away."

Students started to groan and panic as they handed over their books to Kakashi, Naruto especially. Some of Sakura's buddies looked confident that they would nail the test, namely Shino, Sasuke and Gaara. Some were looking relatively calm, like Ino and Hinata and some were looking downright frightened like Naruto and Kiba. Shikamaru was murmuring something about tests being troublesome. All was as it should be.

Within minutes, all the papers were handed out to the kids and despite their earlier reluctance about the test, most of them were writing diligently. Sakura went through the papers and sighed. It was easy, as usual, but there was so much to write. Well, the earlier she started it, the sooner she'd finish it, she decided and got down to it.

Two and a half hours later, the papers were collected, though not before Naruto made a huge scene about forgetting to write his name, and the students let out a collective sigh. It was over, for now, but the afternoon test was the real deal. Orochimaru's tests were a _bitch_, though for Sakura they were relatively okay.

Stretching and complaining about their wrists hurting from writing, the kids made their way to the cafeteria for some much needed relaxation and sustenance. Sakura and the gang sat at their trademark table at the corner of the cafeteria, chatting lightly about the tests. Tenten, Kankuro, Neji and Temari, who were all in higher years, joined them and soon, the group was complaining away about the test.

"Hiya bro!" Temari smacked her youngest brother on the back rather violently, making Gaara choke on his coke. "How'd your test go?"

He glowered at his sister and grounded out the word 'fine' and went back to listening to music on his iPod.

"So anti-social," Sakura murmured, wiping an imaginary tear away from her eye. "What are you listening to, _panda-kun_?" she asked, removing the Boss headphones from the redhead's ears and smiled innocently. Gaara's glower became even darker, if that was even possible, at the mention of that dreaded nickname. The others snickered softly. Well, most of them snickered. Hinata was studying diligently, Shikamaru was sleeping and Sasuke and Neji were smirking. The former did not know Gaara as well as the others but still pitied the boy since he had seemed to become the latest victim of Sakura's juvenile behavior.

"Give that back Sakura" he warned in his most dangerous voice but the pink haired teen continued to grin obliviously and proceeded to pull on the wire of the headphones until Gaara's iPod emerged at the end of it. Before he could make a grab for it, Sakura snatched it and began browsing through the playlist looking for some major blackmail ammo.

"Hmm… Alice in Chains, Metallica, Anthrax, Faith no More… the usual," she murmured to herself as Gaara scowled with his arms crossed over his chest and the rest watched the scene with interest instead of revising for the exams like they should be doing. Gaara scowled, though on the inside he could not help feel a little amused at Sakura's antics. They had known each other since they were little and since he was a little older than her; she'd used to follow him around and worshipped the ground he walked on. He could have sworn she had a crush on him when they were little. Of course, she had grown out of all that once they reached middle school and since then, had taken to annoying him. But still, that didn't change the fact that he cared about her.

"Ah hah!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly, looking gleeful and Gaara snapped out of his reverie, his eyes narrowed.

"Oh my God Gaara, you listen to Taylor Swift?!" she all but hollered and the redhead sputtered in indignation. What the fuck? He was sure he didn't have any of that woman's songs on his precious iPod.

"I don't," he replied in a calmer voice. There was no way he had Taylor Swift on his iPod. No frigging way.

"But," Sakura continued, looking appalled. "There's a list right here," she said and thrust his iPod at him. An expression of horror went across the usually composed teen's face as a list of Taylor Swift's songs appeared on the screen. His face grew hot from all the stares he was receiving. How the hell had this happened?

Sakura smirked wickedly. What Gaara didn't know was that when he had been busy reminiscing about the past, she had downloaded the songs onto his iPod. Panda-kun was so fun to mess with.

"Hahaha, Gaara, you listen to Taylor Swift," Kankuro guffawed loudly and the others followed, making the poor boy go even redder by the minute.

Sakura leaned over, a mock sympathetic look on her face. "Don't worry Gaa-kun. Your fluffy side will be our little secret~," she winked and hugged him from the side.

What was left of lunch passed by with remarks of 'how cute it was that Gaara had a soft side' or 'what's next Gaara? Avril Lavigne?' The green eyed teen bore it as well as he could.

"Oi, Gaara," Temari said with a twinkle in her eye that didn't quite appeal to Gaara. She held up her phone with an edited picture of him looking particularly angsty and brooding and on the side, she'd doodled, 'listens to Taylor Swift' with a small picture of the list of songs on the side.

"One word," Ino spoke up, adding in her two cents. "Facebook."

Gaara paled.

Fucking hell.

* * *

Sasori observed his cousin with a hawk eye as she laughed and talked with her friends. She seemed so normal then. Just a cheerful, normal high school girl hanging out with her friends. What the hell did those bastards want with her? Their game was with them, Akatsuki and Uchiha Sasuke, not her. They were asking for trouble, involving Sakura, and Sasori would see that they got exactly that. He didn't particularly like it when people interfered with his family, especially Sakura.

His cloudy mahogany eyes drifted to Sasuke. He was smirking slightly at the scene of Sakura teasing Sabaku no Gaara. He didn't appear to know anything about how Sakura was being watched nor who was doing it. Sasori really needed to have a conversation with him. If his suspicions were correct, the younger Uchiha played a major role in the current fiasco concerning his cousin.

He sighed in irritation as he tried to absorb the material he was studying. Those idiots could not have picked a worse time to have started to terrorize Sakura. He couldn't concentrate on exams and keep Sakura safe at the same time. He'd heard that the juniors had Biology next, with none other than Orochimaru and it was a pain for his mind to be constantly drifting to Sakura when he wanted to study Physics, which they were having next. He usually could remember something after glancing at it just once but today, something seemed to be up with him since he just couldn't get these formulae's into his head. It was annoying him to no end so he shut his book with an echoing thud. Realizing his mistake, he expected to be chastised by Deidara, who contrary to his appearance actually got decent marks, but when there was silence, he glanced at his friend only to see him not studying like he should have been but instead staring at something across the cafeteria.

Sasori followed Deidara's gaze until it landed on the exact thing he had been thinking about a while back. Sakura. But instead of worrying of her safety, one glance at Deidara's narrowed blue eyes told him that he was agonizing over something else entirely.

Sasori let out another sigh. He had long since suspected that Deidara liked and cared, genuinely cared, about Sakura but it wouldn't do if he started to get jealous each time Sakura spoke with a guy. But still, the way Sakura was acting around Gaara was intimate though Sasori knew that it was a different kind of intimate than what Deidara was thinking about. Since Gaara had known Sakura since he was little, Sasori also knew a little about him and it was obvious that the two were very good friends. That was it. Just very good friends. Nothing else. But of course, Deidara would definitely think something else. He watched as Deidara's eyes darkened considerably as he scowled at Gaara.

Sasori tried to keep himself from groaning. In addition to watching out for Sakura, he now had to make sure that Deidara didn't spontaneously combust and kill Gaara. The redhead massaged his temples gingerly. They were in some kind of mess here. One of these days, he was sure that _he'd_ spontaneously combust from thinking so much. Call it paranoia but Sasori liked to think things through. A lot. Too much, according to Deidara. But a little paranoia wouldn't hurt anyone now would it? And speaking of paranoia, maybe he should talk to Itachi and they could address Sasuke together. As much as Sasori hated to make Itachi speak to his brother, who hated him, he may just be the only person Sasuke would take seriously. And there was the fact that those two needed to resolve things between them soon. This had gone on for too long.

He brushed his bangs back from his forehead in frustration. He felt like a freaking psychologist. Yay him.

And so, he called to the elder Uchiha.

Itachi looked up from his Physics textbook with a questioning look on his face, his head tilted slightly to the side. Deidara was still glowering at Gaara.

"Itachi," Sasori began.

"I need you to do me a favor…"

* * *

Sakura yawned, almost done with her paper, and cracked her knuckles. A few irritated stares were shot in her direction and she apologized absently. A few more lines scrawled on her paper about the chemical coordination in leaves and she was done. With a sigh, she double-checked her paper for errors and glanced at her watch. It was 3:00 in the afternoon. The test ended at 3:30. In short, she had half an hour to kill.

Groaning inwardly, she clipped her papers together and shuffled them into a file before looking around the classroom. Most of the students were still scribbling furiously but she could see some finishing up, like Sasuke and Hinata. Making sure that Orochimaru was looking elsewhere, Sakura hissed at Sasuke. "Psst,"

When he raised an eyebrow in her direction, Sakura again checked to see whether Orochimaru was watching them with his snake eyes before asking him where the hell he had disappeared during lunch in the cafeteria. Sasuke frowned and replied with a short 'Outside for fresh air'. Sakura rolled her eyes, coming to the fact that she'd get nothing more out of him and took out a pencil and paper, deciding that she would have to amuse herself until the test ended.

Sasuke, meanwhile, intertwined his fingers in front of his face in thought, the interaction in the school grounds coming to mind.

~Flashback~

Sasuke exited the cafeteria in hopes of finding peace and quiet to study somewhere else; that place had gotten too loud for him in exam mode.

An ideal place in mind, he stepped onto the school grounds, the snow crunching underneath his boots as he went past the places where students usually inhabited until he reached an old birch tree, its branches covered in last night's snow. Drawing his scarf more closely around his neck, Sasuke settled down on the ground and got comfortable with a book in his hands when unexpectedly, two figures walked into his sight, heavily bundled up against the cold. His eyes narrowed as the figures came into his sight. What the hell was _he_ doing here? And Sakura's cousin for that matter?

Itachi's cloudy grey eyes bore into Sasuke's ones with a conviction Sasuke hadn't seen in them for a long time and as silly as it was, it frightened him. In his surprise, he forgot to spit out any hateful words at Itachi and the elder Uchiha sighed before starting to talk. Sasori stood beside him, hands thrust deep into the pockets of his coat and wavy hair blowing in the wind underneath the woolen cap he was wearing.

"Sasuke," Itachi started. "I know I have no right to demand this from you but I ask of you that you will listen to what I have to say before coming to any judgments."

Sasuke's eyes, so similar to Itachi's own, narrowed but he didn't speak. There was some small, sad part inside him that still loved his brother and still remembered and yearned for their relationship before the accident had happened. So, he didn't speak. He listened.

Itachi swallowed, not having anticipated Sasuke to listen to him so easily. Recovering quickly, he remembered the true purpose as to why he was here. And so, he proceeded to explain to Sasuke the current predicament of his pink haired friend.

"Sakura-san is in trouble," he didn't drag it out and instead just got it out there in the open.

Sasuke blanched, his eyes widening to an almost impossible degree. What was he hearing? Sakura was in trouble?

"What?" he spoke sharply. This time it was Sakura's cousin who spoke.

"Sakura has told me that she has been feeling like she's being watched these past few days." Sasori explained quickly.

Sakura? Watched? Sasuke's mind was going over a hundred meters per second. Was this true? By now, he had stood up but he had no idea how or when.

"By whom?"

"That is where you come in," Sasori said.

~End Flashback~

Sasori and Itachi had proceeded to explain to him who they thought were the ones doing this. Sasuke felt his knuckles clench in spite of himself. How dare those assholes involve Sakura in this? Sasori had said that he suspected that it was a ploy to for them to get to Sasuke. Those low bastards, involving Sakura instead of facing him directly.

His eyes wondered to Orochimaru, who was seated at his desk, looking over the classroom with those eerie eyes of his. He had suspected Orochimaru for a while, when he had been teaching in Otogakure High, but there had never been any solid proof.

Sasuke felt a headache coming on as he thought about the reason he had transferred in the first place. Otogakure had seemed a good school from the outside but it was corrupt from the inside and Sasuke had firsthand experience on just how corrupt it was.

Back when he had first joined Lithium, after his father had died, he had thought the music was a good outlet for his feelings and the band had been a major success, gaining considerable popularity among the masses but it was afterwards that he had discovered just how shady they were. He had no idea how Orochimaru had even been accepted into Konoha High after the band's break up but he supposed the man had always been cunning. He wasn't one to blow his cover that easily.

But this time, Sasuke thought, he'd be prepared. He glanced at Sakura next to him. She was doodling something in her notebook with a smile on her face.

He would keep Sakura safe, he though firmly. He would− his thoughts were interrupted when the bell rang, signaling the end of the test. Some students groaned and some sighed in relief as Orochimaru stood up and started to collect the papers.

Sasuke stiffened indefinitely as the man reached the row he, Sakura and Naruto were sitting in.

Orochimaru smiled a sick smile as Sakura handed her paper to him obliviously. Sasuke noticed and glared as he handed his own. That damned snake.

In addition to his already weighing thoughts of Sakura and her safety, his mind still reeled from what Itachi had said to him before the duo had left him to ponder on what they had revealed to him.

~Flashback~

Sasuke frowned in thought. If what Sasori had told him was true, then Sakura was in trouble. They would have to find a way to keep her safe somehow while getting to the bottom of this mess.

"Sasuke," he snapped out of his thoughts as his brother's voice reached his ears. Why hadn't he left yet? What did he have to say to him?

"What?" the question wasn't harsh, but curious. Was there something else to the story? He raised his eyes to meet Itachi's and was surprised to find them determined yet regretful at the same time.

"I know that it doesn't change anything, doesn't change what I did, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry." Sasuke was too stunned to protest when Itachi walked closer to him and smiled. It was a smile he remembered from his younger years, before that horrible accident had change things between them.

"This time, I won't fail you." Itachi's forefinger raised to poke Sasuke lightly on the forehead as the cold wind blew around them. With that, and one last smile, Itachi had left.

~End Flashback~

Sasuke sighed as he packed his bag, ready to go home. He could feel another headache coming on.

He had a lot to think about.

* * *

Well, there it was. Hope it cleared up some of the questions you had. Please review and drop a few lines on what you thought about the chapter. It was hard to write all the feelings and such and I'm glad I'm done with that. The next chapter will probably be a little late since exams are nearing *shiver* and I gotta study and not to mention update my other fic. Hopefully, I'll get another chance to update this soon.

Review. Like now. Lol

Random QOTD: What type of music do you like? ^^

I'm like the Sakura in this story. I love rock and roll, grunge and alternative and almost all of the songs I've put in here, not counting Barbie girl *hurls*

Love,

Alistair.


	19. Author's Note Please read

Hello. I'm so sorry if I got your hopes up but this is not a new chapter.

I'm writing this to inform you that sadly, I won't be able to update any of my stories until the tenth of December because my exams are going to start soon. I'm really sorry but I have to do this since I really need to get good grades this semester. I really hope you don't abandon this story ^^

I shall try to squeeze in an update from time to time.

Expect an updating spree once I get back on the scene on the tenth.

Again, sorry!

Love,

Alistair


	20. Chapter Nineteen

I know that I have no excuse for this horribly late update other than that I was lazy and a complete bitch to all you wonderful readers. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I hope you haven't abandoned this story.

I know Sakura's b'day is the 28th of March but for all intents and purposes of this story, it's in December ^^

* * *

**Chapter 19**

"Happy Birthday Sakura~" Mrs. Haruno chirped as her daughter descended into the Haruno's kitchen.

Sakura smiled softly as her mom enveloped her in a warm hug, the smell of baked goodies emanating from her person.

As she let her go, her mom pressed something into Sakura's hands, eliciting a sigh from the pink haired teen. She looked down at the small wrapped box in her hands.

"Mom, you didn't have to get me anything," She said. Her mom had enough on her plate looking after the two of them and she didn't need to waste her money on frivolous gifts.

Mom shook her head. "Open it," she said, her green eyes glimmering with something unrecognizable. Curiosity getting the best of her as usual, Sakura eyed the white package before slowly peeling the paper off carefully -she was a fan of collecting wrapping paper.

A gasp slipped past her lips as she opened the lid of the box. It fell to the ground with a muffled thud.

Her fingers pried apart the tissue paper and ran along the silver chain in the middle of the box, tracing the smooth edges of the dog tags at the end, emblazoned by initials H.H.

A dull pain stabbed at her heart as she looked at her mom through glassy emerald orbs.

"I can't take it," She said, shaking her head at her mom and handing the box back to her.

Mom smiled softly, though her eyes are glassy as well.

"It's our gift to you," She said, thrusting the box back into her daughter's hands.

"But what if I lose it? What if something happens to it?" Sakura asked, eyes fixed on the chain. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if something happened to it. Her father had treasured it all his life.

"He would want you to have it," Her mom said.

Sakura sighed softly, nodding. She allowed her mom to put it around her neck, the dog tags falling at her chest.

She touched the dog tags, smiling at the warmth that it made on her chest. Maybe her Mom was right to give this to her. This way, it made her feel like her father was still there with her no matter what had happened. It made her feel safe.

The sound of several honks outside made her snap out of her thoughts. Sasori must have come to pick her up...

"I'll see you later Mom," she said and slung her backpack over her shoulder before running outside, not wanting to keep him waiting. Ever since the stalking incident her mother had freaked out and refused to send her anywhere alone which was why Sasori was now her chauffeur.

Expecting to see Sasori's red mustang, Sakura was surprised when it was not her cousin but his blonde flat mate waiting for her, leaning against his motorcycle.

"Deidara? What are you doing here?"

The blonde quirked an eyebrow.

"What does it look like, yeah? I'm here to pick you up," He rolled his aqua eyes at Sakura.

"What happened to Sasori?" the pinkette asked, shifting her weight onto one foot.

Deidara shrugs. "Said he had something to do, yeah. Now, you coming or not?"

"Keep your freaking pants on," Sakura muttered under her breath before hopping onto the motorcycle along with him.

Soon enough, they reached the school, which wasn't a surprise considering Deidara's crazy biking skills.

"Thanks for the ride blondie," Sakura grinned as she hopped off. Before Deidara could come up with a smart ass reply, an ear splitting shriek rang out.

"SAKS~ BLONDIE~!"

Sakura's head whipped around to meet Ino's excited one while Deidara simply quirked a brow in her direction.

"What's gotten you so excited, pig?" the pinkette grinned.

Ino smirked evilly and Sakura's eyes narrowed. She did not like the look on the blonde's face. It practically spelled trouble.

Ino smiled. "Nothing~" she chirped. "Just excited for your birthday!"

Deidara's brows met in confusion. "Birthday?" he asked. Ino nodded vigorously while Sakura rolled her eyes. Her best friend was more excited for her birthday than she was.

"Yeah, it's her birthday. Didn't she tell you?" Ino asked, cornflower blue eyes glinting with something Sakura could only classify as dangerous.

The trademark smirk replaced Deidara's confused look as he angled his eyebrow at Sakura. "As a matter of fact, she didn't, yeah."

"Well now you know," Ino said and the two blondes seem to have a conversation with only their eyes. Sakura looked from her best friend to her 'frenemy' if he can be called that. What was going on?

"Anyways, I hope you don't mind if I borrow Sakura from you for a while," Ino said, grabbing hold of the confused pinkette's arm.

"I'll see you later, cherry, yeah." Deidara grinned as Ino dragged Sakura away, ignoring the girl's protests.

"What was that about?" Sakura cried as Ino dragged her all the way to first period.

"You didn't tell him it was your birthday?" Ino cries and Sakura shook her head. "Why? Is it that important?"

"Sakura, you confessed to him, remember?" Ino grabbed her friend by the shoulders and Sakura cheeks grew hot.

"B-but he was drunk! He probably doesn't even remember it." She protested. Good thing he didn't remember it too, or he'd never let her live it down.

"So tell him again!" Ino smirked and Sakura glared.

"Never in my life." She grinds out and stormed to her seat when the teacher walked in.

Ino smirked to herself.

Denial. How cute.

* * *

"Happy Birthday Sakura~" The gang chirped as Sakura took her seat in the cafeteria.

"Thanks guys," The pinkette grinned.

Opening the presents her friends had gotten her, Sakura felt warm all over. It was nice to have friends who cared.

Even Sasori and Deidara had joined them. Her cousin had gotten her the latest CD from one of her favorite bands as well.

Ino cleared her throat, gaining her everyone's attention.

"And now, in commemoration of my bestie's birthday, I have a special treat for you," The blonde grinned, throwing an arm over Sakura's shoulder.

Everyone turned to Ino curiously.

She whipped out a small album.

"Ta da!~ Buck-toothed pictures of our very own Saki~"

"Ino! Give that back!" Sakura cried out in anger but before she could grab the album, a tanned hand reached it.

Sakura looked up to see a smirking Deidara and facepalmed. Fuck.

"Ino, I am going to kill you."

* * *

She picked up on the third ring. Sasuke knew it was her straight away, he could hear the lilt of her voice. "Hello?"

"Horatu, it's Sasuke."

"Ohmigod, Sasquack?! I have been expecting your call! It's been ages!" She replied happily. She usually knew if you were going to call so he let it go. He craned away from the phone, trying not to pick up on her 'happy vibes.'

"It has," He sighed. "I need to ask you something."

"What is it, emo boy?" Hotaru chirped happily while Sasuke sighed.

"I can't exactly say it over the phone," He said quietly. He could almost hear Hotaru's smirk.

"Are you in trouble? Again?"

"No... A friend."

"Aww," She sighed. "I'm so happy. Sasquack has friends."

"Are you just going to insult me?"

"I feel the need to give you a bit of teasing, yes."

"Why would that be?"

"Oh. You know... Itachi transferring to your school? Can't have been pleased at that." Her annoying English voice made him want to crush the phone.

"How do you know everything?" He rubbed his temple slightly. She chuckled.

"What do you need then, Sasuke?" She was being serious now. Good.

"I need some information. I don't feel comfortable talking about it over the phone."

"Aww. Well, I'll be in touch. You'll be seeing me soon Sasuke."

That didn't sound as ominous in her happy voice but even so...

* * *

Yeah, not much development and extremely short but I promise, the next chapter will be better!

Love,

Alistair.


	21. Chapter 20

I know, I'm horrible . Sorry again D: This chapter is short too but the next one is already in the works :3

**Chapter 20**

Sakura fumed, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I swear, if you laugh one more time, I'll hit you," She gritted her teeth, glaring at the blonde next to her, who was trying valiantly to suppress a chuckle.

But it was in vain.

"Ouch, yeah!" He exclaimed as she punched him on the shoulder. "That hurts."

"Well, I warned you." She said, glaring at him. She didn't know how the heck that was so funny either. They were only photos from when she was a kid. Damn Ino..

"Why're you so upset, yeah? You looked cute. Especially with buck-teeth." Another chuckle ripped past his lips and Sakura barely resisted the urge to hit him across the back of his head.

"You're an idiot," She sighed.

"Hey, isn't that chibi-Itachi?" Deidara's question brought Sakura's attention to Sasuke, standing a few feet in front of them with a small girl with short blonde hair. They were apparently arguing.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Knowing Sasuke, the girl was probably infuriated with him.

"What the hell? What's she doing here, yeah?" Deidara muttered, earning Sakura's attention. He was staring at the blonde, recognition lighting up his blue eyes.

"You know her?" She asked him. Deidara didn't reply, instead choosing to stare at Sasuke and the girl.

Sakura walked close enough to hear their conversation.

"Didn't you hear? Otagakure's packing up, everyone's transferring to Suna or Konoha." The girl appeared to be saying. Sasuke groaned.

Sakura quirked a brow. Otogakure?

"Hey, emo boy!" She called out and said duckbutt's head whipped around to face her.

"Sakura! What're you doing here?" He questioned, looking uncomfortable for some reason she couldn't fathom.

"Um... this is my school as well?" She trailed off, emerald eyes drifting to the girl beside Sasuke who was grinning. Her blue eyes were fixated not on Sakura but on her companion.

"Yo, drag queen."

Sakura let out a laugh as Deidara glared at the small girl.

"What the hell are you doing here, yeah?" He asked, eyebrow still twitching.

"That's just what I've been telling Sasquack here about. Otogakure's out. Everyone's transferring here or Suna."

Sakura sobered up. Why was Otogakure packing up? And how did Sasuke and Deidara know this girl?

"Not meaning to be rude or anything, but who are you?" She asked.

The girl grinned.

"I'm Hotaru. Hasn't Sasquack told you about me?" Sakura shook her head and Hotaru threw a mock glare at Sasuke.

The duckbutt sighed. "She used to play for Lithium." He said.

Sakura opened her mouth. And closed it. Opened it.

"You look like a goldfish, yeah."

"Shut up prick." Sakura growled.

A new voice entered their conversation and familiar red hair and mahogany eyes enter into their view.

"Hotaru, you've grown." Sasori remarked and Hotaru glared. "You're still small though."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Sasori." Hotaru said through gritted teeth and Sakura stared back and forth between her cousin and Hotaru.

She held up her hands in defeat.

"You guys, I'm a little lost here. Mind elaborating?" the pinkette said.

"Hotaru used to play for Lithium." Sasori said.

"Why is Sasuke so pissed?" Sakura asked.

"Because I barged in uninvited," Hotaru rolled her eyes. "Sasuke doesn't like it when someone doesn't come to his party invited."

"You got that right." Sakura grinned, making Sasuke's glare go even deeper. She liked this girl already.

"Anyway, what's this about Otogakure packing up?" Sasori asked, brows furrowed.

"So many of their best and most famous students were transferring out, to Konoha. People started taking their kids out, saying it wasn't as good anymore. They packed up. I was one of the last."

Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you'll be coming here from now on?" He asked.

Sakura stifled a smirk. Was that anticipation she heard just now in her cousin's voice?

"No, I'm going to Hawaii's School for Young Gorillas." Hotaru said, her face blank.

This time Sakura actually smirked. It appeared as if her cousin had finally met his match.

"I'm confused." Deidara mumbled. "Is she being sarcastic, yeah?"

The majority of people around him facepalmed and Deidara pouted.

The bell rang, preventing anymore conversation and the teens dispersed.

* * *

Sakura sat quietly, for once, absorbed in her thoughts and music. Turned out that Hotaru was actually older than her and the rest and had most of her classes with Sasori and the rest. Too bad, she would have liked to have gotten to know her better.

Speaking of said blonde, Sakura spotted her making way to the Akatsuki's lunch table with her tray. Interesting..

"Why not?" Hotaru snorted.

"It just doesn't work. How can you like the two?"

"Why not?!"

"All Time Low and Evanescence do not go together." Sasori buried his head in his hands.

"They don't have to! It's the music I like!"

Sasori opened his mouth to argue but Hotaru put her hands to her ears.

"La la la la la~ Your argument is invalid~" She sang.

"Well, maybe it is, but- But..."

Hotaru smirked triumphantly. Felt good to render Sasori speechless.

"Sasori, my man, you just got owned, yeah." Deidara snickered.

"But..."

"There are no buts!" Hotaru poked his cheek. "I win."

Sasori looked away from her, huffing and the two blondes burst out laughing.

"Sore loser~" Hotaru grinned.

"I'm not!" Sasori argued.

"Denial, yeah," Deidara smirked. Too bad, he shouldn't have said that... Who but Hidan should pick up on this little blunder.

"Speaking of denial fucker, when are you gonna bang that chick?" Hidan grinned lecherously and Sasori's eyebrows twitched in irritation.

"That 'chick' you are talking about is my cousin, Hidan," The redhead remarked coldly, directing a death glare at the silverette. Meanwhile, Deidara was muttering under his breath.

"Piss off ginger, go and fuck yourself." Hidan retorted foully.

"Oi, fucker! That's my cousin you're talking to!" A pissed voice entered their conversation.

The teens looked up to see a ticked off Sakura, glaring daggers at Hidan.

The silverette rolled his eyes. "You and your fucking cousin."

"It's her birthday, be nice." Hotaru giggled.

That seemed to perk Deidara's attention. The blonde sat up, looking straight at Sakura.

"Come on, yeah. I want to show you something." He said. The Akatsuki smirked. The baby of the group was finally making his move.

Sakura blinked as the blonde grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the cafeteria and into the school hallways.

"Where are we going?" She asked in confusion, as Deidara looked around calmly.

"Just go with it, yeah." He muttered, dragging her through the maze of hallways. They reached a back door that lead to the school grounds and it seemed to click in Sakura's head.

"Cutting class? Nice." She grinned. "But how do you propose we get out of here? And with no one seeing us?"

Deidara smirked "It's after lunch so there won't be many teachers out, yeah. I parked outside the school. Let's go."

The duo pushed past the door and arrived at the school grounds.

Deidara looked around calmly. Just as he had thought, no one was around.

"Alright, the coast is clear. Come on." He grabbed her hand in his and pulled her to a fence that lined the whole school, aqua eyes keeping a look out for the enemy, A.K.A the faculty.

"You go first, yeah." He inclined his head towards the fence. Sakura nodded, climbing over the fence and jumping off to the other side, thanking God that she had worn jeans and that the fence was short.

A thump from behind her told that Deidara had joined her. He grinned, holding up a set of keys.

"Shall we?"

* * *

Tell me what you think please :3 Hope you enjoyed it!

Love,

Ally :3


	22. Chapter Twenty-one

I know the OC's are random but I felt sorry for the guys and yeah xD And finally, I have updated -.-' Sorry about the long wait, busy with school (I'm a senior now D:) and other stories and life in general. Sorry if this you don't like this chapter .-.

* * *

**Chapter 21**

"That was the best show ever!" Sakura grinned as she and Deidara emerged from a warehouse, faces red from all the yelling they had done.

"To be expected since it was Dinosaur Jr. playing." Deidara flicked her on the nose.

"How'd you discover them in the first place?" She asked, mind drifting back to the loud, distorted guitar riffs. It had been epic.

"A record store, yeah." He answered simply, smiling a little. Blue eyes drifting around, he spotted an ice-cream vendor at the side of the street.

"Want some?" He grinned, gesturing to the truck.

Sakura's eyes lit up. "Yes!" She sang excitedly.

Deidara jogged over to the truck, feeling extremely accomplished with himself.

He handed a couple of notes to the vendor, and went back to Sakura, two ice-cream cones in hand.

"You said you wanted mint chocolate chip, right?" He grinned, handing over one cone to her.

Sakura nodded happily. "This has been the best birthday ever!" She said, in between licks of the deliciously cool ice-cream.

"Glad you liked it, yeah." he said happily, sitting back. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Why did you get coffee? Ew." she made a face. He laughed to himself.

"I thought it would taste nice." He shrugged innocently and proceeded to lick his ice cream. Deidara made a face, glaring at it.

"It's coffee," Sakura rolled her eyes. "Of course it tastes awful."

"Can I have some of yours, yeah?"

Sakura stared at him suspiciously, everything clicking in her head. A slight smirk travelled across her lips and she held her ice cream forward for him to taste.

Shooting her a light smile, Deidara licked a bit off of her ice-cream, gorgeous blue eyes trained on Sakura the whole while.

Her cheeks heated up a little.

"Go on." he said. "The ice cream will cool you down, yeah."

Sakura pouted. "What makes you think I have to cool down?" She muttered, taking back the ice cream.

"You're blushing." he said, poking her cheek gently. "Can I have some more~?"

"I'm not." Sakura huffed. "And no~ you'll finish the whole thing."

"Sharing is caring," he pouted, shuffling closer. "Please?"

Sakura's emerald eyes shifted downwards, the red on her cheeks even more defined.

"Fine." She bit her lip.

"Thank you~" he leant down, licking the ice cream again. She could almost see the individual hairs on his cheek.

Sakura tried to calm her erratically beating heart, wishing that the red would disappear from her cheeks. He was surely doing this on purpose. Just to get a rise out of her, maybe.

Setting the ice-cream aside, Deidara leant down, one hand moving to cup Sakura's cheek. Her emerald orbs widened. He wasn't going to do it, was he?

* * *

"What is he doing?!"

"Sasori, calm down." Itachi sighed from behind the park bench where they were spying on the happy couple, as much as it shamed him to admit. "You shouldn't have come anyway!"

"He's going after my cousin." Sasori growled. "Damn brat."

Itachi's gaze softened. "Actually, I think he genuinely cares for Sakura."

"You know what he's like." Sasori cracked his knuckles. "Sakura's better than that, right?"

Itachi resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. "She is, but how can you be sure that Deidara does not truly care for her? You've seen how he acts around her."

"I don't trust him." Sasori growled. "He might, but it's not as if he knows how to treat a girl right. Look at the girls before."

"And you do?"

"She's my cousin!"

"You're being paranoid."

"I am not!" Sasori hissed. His eyes widened.

"Sasori, we're spying on them from behind a park bench. Don't you think that amounts to being paranoid? Sakura will be fine. Deidara will take care of her. Moreover, she doesn't need to be taken care of now."

"He's going to kiss her you idiot!" Sasori whisper shouted.

"And that's a problem why?" Itachi rolled his eyes, thrusting his hands into his pockets.

"Because he's Deidara and he's going to treat her the same way he did those other girls." Sasori gritted his teeth.

Itachi shot him a hard stare. "Can you not accept that he has changed? And Sakura is not like those other girls."

Sasori didn't listen. They weren't far from them. He was going to stop this, now. He didn't think.

Sasori moved forward, unthinking in his rage.

A hand grabbed him just as he reached the bench Deidara and Sakura were on and pulled him into a dark alleyway. He could hear Itachi calling for him but paid it no mind.

"What are you doing?!" Hotaru hissed. "Leave them alone!"

Sasori took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down before he did something he'd regret.

"Why should I? She's my cousin."

"She's her own person!" she glared at him. "Leave her to make her own mistakes."

Sasori slumped against the wall.

"But he's Deidara. You know what he's like."

"Sakura's better than that. He won't do anything."

"Why does everyone think that? As strong as she is, Sakura is still a girl. And Deidara doesn't have the best track record."

"She's already proven that she can deal with that." Hotaru sighed. "Leave. It."

A heavy sigh leaving his lungs, Sasori sat down on the floor, completely oblivious to the fact that they were in a dark, dirty alleyway and the Itachi was probably searching for him.

"You're over-reacting."

"What did you expect me to do?" Sasori raised an eyebrow tiredly.

"Leave her alone. God, you're a busy body sometimes."

"I am not." He frowned. "I'm merely worried for my cousin's welfare."

"I have to go," she popped her gum. "Try not to break anything, ketchup."

Sasori rolled his eyes wearily. "You're still calling me that."

"You're gonna have to change your hair color if you want me to stop. See you."

"Where you going?" She growled under her breath at his curiosity.

"You'll see~!"

Sasori propped himself off of the wall. "Hey, Hotaru?" He trailed off, looking down at his shoes.

"Herm?" She was most of the way down the alley now. "I need to get going. What is it?"

There was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"Find me when you can work out what you're going to say," she said impatiently, then left.

* * *

When they broke apart from what Sakura would from now on see as one of the best kisses of her life, she heard running footsteps and shouting. Deidara looked around.

People were running about, some looking nervous but the majority were excited, chattering about something that he couldn't make out.

"What's happening?" Sakura asked, still dazed from the kiss.

"Dunno, hm." Deidara grinned, slinging an arm over her shoulders. "Shall we go and see?"

Okay, he definitely knew something. She stood up.

They were pushed along with the crowd on the street, people knocking on them from either side. Sakura wondered what the hell the fuss was all about.

Then she heard the throbbing chords.

Her head whipped around to meet Deidara's.

_"Somebody mixed my medicine~"_

"Did you plan this?" She had to yell to make herself be heard.

"Nah." Deidara said. They were back in the warehouse building again. She turned her head to see the platforms at the other end. A new group had assembled at the front. A girl with long, waist length blue hair played guitar lazily, singing.

"Who is that?" Sakura's eyes widened. She was singing effortlessly, her voice reverberating around the building.

_"Where you hurt where you sleep. And you sleep where you lie."_ Her head moved hypnotically, small plaits swirling around her head. Sakura tore her eyes away from her, scanning the other musicians. Another girl with ink blank hair, in hundreds of tiny bunches, was slouched over a bass guitar. She looked up momentarily, flashing a bright grin.

Sakura grinned back. Whoever they were, they were good, she'd give them that.

On the other side was a thin blonde girl, her small wrists strumming slowly. Her arms were covered in cloth bracelets. Her fringe dipped over her eyes, but when she looked up, they were rimmed with black. She flashed a quick smile towards Deidara.

Sakura nudged Deidara hard with her shoulder. "Alright, you know something. Spit it out."

"Eh. If you recognize the blonde, that's Hotaru."

The pink haired girl squinted. He was right. It was Hotaru. Sakura almost couldn't recognize her underneath all the lights on the stage.

The drummer was having a great time. She was grinning from ear to ear, her hands a blur. Her fine blonde hair was tangled over her shoulders, her green eyes covered by huge glasses which she obviously didn't need.

The vocalist with the blue hair burst into a solo, the throbbing of the guitar strings causing small goose bumps to rise up on Sakura's arms.

"Hey everyone," she said after the song slowed. The black haired girl died down her chords, stopping slowly.

A few people cheered back. Sakura was taken aback, her voice was different from how she imagined it. Softer.

"'Kay." she said happily, resting one hand on her guitar. "I'ma hand over to Ally now~"

She seemed so happy, smiling. The black haired girl - Ally, swapped with her, guitars as well.

"S'up everyone? This will sound a little familiar today. Hope you enjoy~ anyone who doesn't like it loud, should leave now~" She grinned lazily, fiddling with her guitar.

She started off with an aggressive sound, loud and angry. The harsh tones of the guitar seemed to excite Deidara.

"She's doing Cold! I don't believe it" Sakura cheered.

_"Wanna love you, wanna bug you, wanna squeeze you, stupid girl."_

"This is awesome." Sakura shouted to Deidara. He grinned.

Her voice changed into something else. Something more desperate than angry.

_"I can't take this. Born to break this."_

_"She's going away. Ah, she's going away. What's wrong with my life today."_

Then it changed back into the earlier distorted tone, the drums clanging loudly with the guitars. Ally seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, swaying with her guitar. Her was gravelly and rough, a stark contrast with Cloud- the blue haired girl's voice.

"I'm just glad she's not doing Pierce the Veil anymore," he shouted back.

"Pierce the veil?" Sakura cocked a head to the side.

"Ehh. Did you even hear Lithium live?" Deidara guided her to the side of the hall. "It was all screaming and shouting. Loved it. Sasuke was always a little angry, yeah."

Sakura smiled slightly. "I can imagine that."

"You almost felt sorry for the others, hm. Hey, this is good." he closed his eyes for a second. The song continued. Then, it ended abruptly. Sakura sighed.

"Yo, everyone." another, accent voice piped up. Sakura grinned. "Ah, I'm getting stares again. I feel so loved," Hotaru said drily. "Yeah, yeah. We got a Greek, Sri Lankan, American and Englishwoman, no hatin', 'kay, loves?"

A few people laughed.

"Now you all have to listen to Hotaru talk like a retard. Sakuraaaaaaaaa~ Where's Sakura-chan?" Sakura started. What? A few people looked around. "Everyone has to go and stare at darling Sakura because it's her birthday today~ And yeah, she's in the band with Sasquack too. So, yeah. Happy birthday Sakura~" Hotaru said happily. A few people shouted greetings to the pinkette. Sakura blushed.

"Uh, Sakura. Your cousin says hey. Hey, Ketchup, no complainin'!" she glared into the distance, at the back of the warehouse.

Sakura's blush transformed into a cheeky grin. She turned around and waved to her cousin, whose face had turned into the color of his hair.

"Yes, that's it, Sakura. Go annoy him. Yes, Sasori, I mean you. I already had to deal with you once today."

The crowd laughed, everyone's attention turning to the redhead at the back.

"Everyone can stare at his baby face instead of me when I sing. Yes. Thank you. Right." Hotaru said cheerfully, her accent getting stronger. "Ooookay."

Suddenly, the blue haired girl's fingers began to fly across the guitar's frets. Hotaru grinned, beginning to bounce on the balls of her feet. Ally joined in and she stepped closer to the mic.

"Where are the people who accused me...? The ones who beat me down and bruised me...?" she swung around, her hair hiding her face.

The crowd seemed mesmerized with her vocals. Her voice was soft, but also high at the same time. That accompanied with the sounds of the guitar captured everyone's attention.

"This is so cool~" Sakura said, holding onto Deidara's arm. He grinned.

"Glad you like it, yeah."

"Did you know about this?"

"Not at all."

Sakura looked him suspiciously. He was so lying.

"Seriously, yeah!"

"Yeah, yeah~" She sang, poking him hard.

"What's Danna doing here anyway?" Deidara said absently.

"I think he's here to see Hotaru." Sakura smiled cheekily. Deidara's eye lit up mischievously. He was so not gonna let this go.

"What about the others, yeah? If Sasori's here, so is Hidan and Itachi." he grinned. "Shall we?" he held his arm out to her.

Sakura nodded, allowing him to drag her to where Sasori was, still red in the face.

"You didn't tell me you were coming, hm!" Deidara said happily. Sasori muttered something under his breath. "Hm, what was that?"

"Nothing," Itachi appeared. As soon as Deidara looked away, the Uchiha frowned at Sasori.

"Act normal."

"Why?" Sasori grumbled.

Itachi sighed, not bothering to grace that with an answer. And here he had thought that Sasori was one of the level-headed ones.

"Where's Hidan, then?" Deidara said, pulling Sakura to his side.

"He went around the side, he said he knew Ally." Itachi said blandly.

"Could I be introduced to them afterwards?" Sakura asked hopefully. The Akatsuki seemed to know them so she'd take her chances.

"Ehh." Sasori folded his arms.

"He doesn't want to talk to them. He's sulking," Itachi said, smiling slightly. "But yeah. I know Cloud."

Sakura brightened up. "Awesome. Why is he sulking anyways?" She poked her cousin on purpose.

"Well. Ah. Uhm." Itachi said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Lots of things."

Sasori glared at her.

Sakura fashioned an offended look onto her face. "You're mean." she pouted, looking away from him.

"You could always ask Sasuke." Deidara piped up. "I'm sure he won't miss a chance to talk to Iro, yeah." he snickered.

"Sasuke?" Sakura said. "Who's Iro?"

"Sasuke likes Iro." Itachi smirked.

"She's the drummer, yeah."

"I didn't think Sasuke was capable of... liking..."

"He hides it well."

"And that's why he's backstage?"

Sakura's eyes widened. "He's backstage? That's not fair." she folded her arms over her chest.

"We'll take you, yeah!" Deidara said happily, steering her away from Sasori's angry glare.

Waving goodbye at Itachi and the still-sulking Sasori, Deidara dragged Sakura out the warehouse and around the back.

The music was dying down: it was a short thing, over quickly. But Sakura was still grinning from the address from Hotaru. And them. She was going to meet them.

The girls were finishing up the concert. Ending their last song with a blast of distorted guitar, they took their leave. The cheers were deafening.

Sakura caught sight of the younger Uchiha. He was already talking to Hotaru in low voices. He saw her and hissed something to Hotaru. Hotaru shrugged, turning around slowly.

The blonde smiled at her, waving. Sasuke mumbled something under his breath, looking pissed off. Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. Did he not want her to be here or something?

Someone tapped her shoulder. "Are you Sakura?"

The voice was slow, with an accent like hers. Much quieter than she'd imagined. Sakura turned to see the blue haired girl. She fiddled with her hair over her right shoulder, snapping off a band and tying it loosely.

"Yeah, and you must be Cloud." Sakura smiled. She was really pretty and she could see that the girl wasn't wearing that much makeup either. Cloud nodded.

"And that's Deidara." Deidara himself had sidled away and was talking to someone else.

"Oh, I know him." Sakura grinned. "So you guys are like, back together?"

A slow smile broke out on Cloud's lips. "Yeah," she says. "It's good to be back."

"Cloud~!." Another voice said. Someone's head appeared on her shoulder: Ally. "Hello."

"Hi!" Sakura noticed that she had somewhat darker skin than the others.

"Is this Deidara's new _friend_?"

The pinkette turned as pink as her hair. The day had gone so fast she'd barely had enough time to think about how her relationship with Deidara had evolved.

"I'll take that as a yes." Ally grinned.

"Shh, it's her birthday, leave her alone~" Cloud scolded, poking Ally's cheek.

The dark haired girl pouted. "Fine~"

"I wanna talk to 'Tachi, anyway." Cloud said vaguely. "Where is he?"

"He was with Sasori out front."

"Ohh. Ketchup? Is he embarrassed?" Ally said, a malicious glint in her eye. "Realllyyyy embarrassed?"

Sakura frowned. "Why do you ask? But the answer is yes. He seemed preoccupied with something." She chuckled, recalling her cousin's red face.

"I shall go annoy him~ And speak with 'Tachi." Cloud skipped away, intent on finding the weasel. Ally looked at Sakura, just under her height.

"Happy birthday, I guess~"

Sakura almost fainted. She was tired, happy, Deidara had kissed her and now she was talking to these people.

Then, why was Sasuke glaring at her? Should she go talk to him? Ally lost interest, wandering off. Sakura looked around. Sasuke seemed pre-occupied with the drummer, who looked less hyper now. She was slouched, with a huge bottle of something.

She didn't feel like going over to them while they were talking. She'd be interrupting. And it looked like they really did want to talk to each other. Now what was she supposed to do?

Just in time, Hotaru walked towards her, guitar case strapped to her back.

"How's the birthday girl?" She asked. Sakura blushed. Should she tell the truth? "Okay, I'm not going to lie. You and Deidara. Am I allowed to ship that or am I being weird?"

"S-ship us? Why would you?" Sakura fidgeted with the edge of her shirt.

"You do realize why your cousin was actually here? Ketchup doesn't approve~"

The blush turned into a frown. "Wait. Do you mean he followed us?" Sakura's eyebrow twitched.

"Possibly~" Hotaru said happily. "He's pretty fast when he wants to be. I had to yell at him~"

"I'm going to talk to him." Sakura frowned. As much as she loved her cousin, she didn't need his approval.

"It's fun, yelling." Hotaru said absently. "Hey, you're in a band with Sasquack, right?"

"Yeah. It's not really band, we just do covers. Why?"

"You might wanna be careful. Sasuke gets himself into trouble sometimes. You don't want to get hurt." she sighed. "I have no idea where Jugo and Suigetsu are right now, but they're probably in trouble too. You'll be lucky to get out of your friendship with Sasuke alive."

"What do you mean trouble? And I have no idea who those people are." Sakura's mind whirred with questions. What was with this all of a sudden? Did this have something to do with the people who were following her? Neither her nor Deidara had noticed anyone today though.

"And the Akatsuki too. They're not just a band. You've got to be careful. That's probably one of the reasons Sasori is anxious." Hotaru said seriously, staring at Sakura. "There's always someone who wants to wreck things."

"Not just a band? What are they then? You're seriously freaking me out right now." The pinkette frowned. What was she on about?

"I know I'm freaking you out." Hotaru said quickly, leaning closer. "But I mean it. Sasuke's got some... unfinished business with a load of people, and you could get involved. Killed. Caput."

"That's it, I'm going to talk to him. This is freaking me out and no one is being clear." Sakura walked away, intent on finding either Sasori or Sasuke.

"You do that~" Hotaru said happily. She obviously wasn't one for explaining. Sakura looked over to Sasuke. Then, looked away very quickly.

Hotaru spotted him. "Oh. That was quick, Iro."

* * *

So yeah, hope you liked it.

Love,

Ally~


End file.
